


All The Weyrs Of Pern: A Novel About A Surprisingly Small Number of Dragonriders

by silveradept



Series: The Suck Fairy's Greatest Hits: The Dragonriders of Pern [17]
Category: Dragonriders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey
Genre: Abuse, Ageism, Attempted Murder, Attempted Xenocide, Ayn Rand's Paradise Writ Large, Bro Code, Colonialism, End-of-life Planning, F/M, False Humility, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Manipulation, Meta, Misgendering, Murder, Nonfiction, Patriarchy, Poisoning, Sexism, Suicide, Swearing, Torture, Toxic Mascultinity, double standards, hagiography, mob justice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-23
Updated: 2017-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:55:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 19
Words: 49,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24040936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silveradept/pseuds/silveradept
Summary: A commentary read with excerpts of All The Weyrs of Pern, a novel of the Ninth Pass of Pern, part of the Dragonriders of Pern novels.
Relationships: F'lar | Fallarnon/Lessa, Jancis/Piemur (Dragonriders of Pern), Jaxom/Sharra (Dragonriders of Pern), Mirrim/T'gellan (Dragonriders of Pern)
Series: The Suck Fairy's Greatest Hits: The Dragonriders of Pern [17]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1663699
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	1. A New World Approaches

**Author's Note:**

> This is the Director's Cut of meta originally posted at [Slacktiverse](https://slacktiverse.wordpress.com).
> 
> Content notes for each chapter are in their respective posts, and all content notes in the work are in the tags.
> 
> Director's commentary will be rendered _[in a manner like this.]_

Well, then, we've firmly crossed genres now. What started as an exercise in Our Dragons Are Different has fully transformed itself into a hybridized science fiction story and the technology of the Ancients is now rushing in to fill what was a gap. With the rediscovery of the artificial intelligence in the South, clearly Pern is about to undergo a massive change. Not even the Harpers can stop what's coming next.

**All the Weyrs of Pern: Prologue and Chapter One: Content Notes: Misgendering**

A mercifully short Prologue (without the backported spoiler data, now that the truth is known) opens with AIVAS returning to awareness after a long sleep, plugging a hole about how it could have stayed functional - occasionally the winds swept the ash and dust off the solar panels so that the batteries could recharge. We're also told that AIVAS was tasked with the function of destroying Thread before it went to sleep as a primary priority task, which I don't recall happening anywhere in Dragonsdawn, and also, I find it unlikely that an intelligence that was being used to help run Landing and several other stakes would prioritize Thread over continued operations. Then again, I'm also not a colonist, nor an author fighting with a story that's clearly a square peg being sanded down to fit the round hole.

_[Comments on the original post also point out that there's an authorial justification for how it managed to so quickly adapt, in that AIVAS apparently still had some working external microphones and had been listening in on the conversations going on around it, running the shifts through its own language processor long before it was fully uncovered and talked to. This particular piece of information was put in the context that AIVAS does a lot of pretending not to understand things that it does, so as to extract more information from the people. It's worth keeping in mind as we go along that AIVAS is very clearly capable of spying and manipulation on Robinton's level, if not well beyond it, and that the tasks involved to get Pern free of thread will involve a fair bit of manipulating both individuals and the society as a whole. To the point where the technology level of Pern will have to be brought up significantly, to the beginnings of the mechanization and electronic periods. Which will enrich the elite handsomely, but doesn't necessarily redound to the peasantry. There's a reasonable argument for the anti-AIVAS faction buried somewhere in these narratives, but we'll have to go find it, because the narrative isn't going to give us any help.]_

AIVAS observes Ruth, and categorizes him as an anomaly, but is as excited and nervous as an AI can be that has been waiting 2525 years for humans to come back, wondering if Thread has already been defeated and what new tasks will await if this is the case.

But then comes Chapter One, and while the AIVAS remains the narrator, sort of, the timekeeping system in place returns to the native Pernese one. Present (Ninth) Pass, 17th Turn. That's a near-Whatfruit problem by itself, because AIVAS would have no conception of the time, since all it has done at this point is make a magical shift to comprehensiblity and then tell the story of the Ancients that we have collected in Dragonsdawn. There hasn't been time to learn the strange timekeeping system the descendants have.

Anyway, the narrative picks up as AIVAS is telling the story to an increasing audience of Lords Holder, Craftmasters, and Weyrleaders, with accompanying pictures and graphics to illustrate. Once finished, everyone sits in awe for a moment. Robinton asks why the story stops so abruptly, and AIVAS points out that it received no new inputs. Fandarel wants to know if AIVAS can help rebuild the lost technology of yesteryear (affirmative), and the Benden Weyrleader...wants the place cleared out before more questions can be asked and nobody allowed in without express permission.

It falls to Lessa to be the amazed character, expressing wonder at everything seen and heard (rather than, say, Piemur, who would fit the bill nicely, or Jancis, if it had to be a woman), which AIVAS deflects by asking about whether the dragons are the descendants of Kitti Ping's efforts. We're told that Ramoth is the largest dragon on Pern, to Lessa's discomfort, and the characters find out that AIVAS has external sensors it can access.

And then there's the question of Ruth.

> "And the white one?" Aivas went on. "It--"  
>  **"He,"** Jaxom said firmly but without rancor, "is Ruth, and I am his rider."  
>  "Remarkable. The bioengineering report indicated that there were to be five variations, imitating the genetic material of the fire-dragons."  
>  "Ruth is a sport," Jaxom replied. He had long since stopped being defensive about his dragon. Ruth had his own special abilities.

On the one hand, hooray for proper pronoun insistence, about twenty or so years before it became a social issue, not that the author could have foreseen it. On the other hand, here's another one of those impossible slang pieces showing up. Admittedly, my variation of English doesn't use "sport" to mean "an entity with genetic variance" in common speech, even though it does exist. The only other place I've seen it is in A Wrinkle In Time, and there it seems to have a pejorative meaning, even if everyone seems to be using it positively, as Jaxom is here. But there's no reason for me to believe that the people of the Ninth Pass understand genetics well enough to understand mutations and variations enough to have a slang word for it that matches the slang of 20th c. Terra. Ruth is quite literally the first dragon on record to have a variation like this, after all. Perhaps the Masterfarmers and Beastmasters and herders have a basic grasp, since they likely engage in all sorts of breeding for traits, but there's no evidence, unless we take it as truth that the Harpers were able to arrest the language so completely, that this word would survive Pern's environment.

After talking about Ruth, there's a little bit about proper titles to use when addressing the assembled crowd. AIVAS indicates surprise at the presence of Lemos Hold, considering it knows far more about Bart than the descendants do (just wait until they mention Bitra Hold), but shifts quickly to happiness at the idea of Telgar Hold. The Benden Weyrleader refocuses the discussion by asking AIVAS what it knows about Thread.

The standard scientific explanation of how Thread gets to Pern and its periodic return goes entirely over everyone's head, including Fandarel. But there is a temporal calibration moment, from Robinton.

> "With due respect, Aivas, we do not understand your explanation," the Harper said wryly. "A great deal of time has passed since Admiral Benden and Governor Boll led the settlers north. We are currently in the seventeenth Turn--what you call a year, I think--of the Ninth Pass of the Red Star."  
>  "Noted."

No, no, no, no, no! Not just "Noted." There's no _reference point_ for that to make any sense. In a non-quoted part of the explanation, AIVAS admits that there's up to a decade of potential variance between when Passes start and end. All it knows is that there have been eight passes before this one and this one is currently in year seventeen. Eight Passes of fifty years plus 17 = 417 years. Plus eight intervals of 250 years = 2417 years accounted for. AIVAS indicated it had been 2525 years - 2525 - 2417 = 108 years of flux that has to be dealt with. Not to mention that it hasn't actually been definitively established that the Turn and the year are identical. What if the colonial calendar developed leap years? Or any number of timekeeping oddities that could have developed. The AI should still be getting to relate to things in Landing terms, not Ninth Pass terms.

Anyway, the Benden Weyrleader, after finding out that AIVAS has some theories about how and where Thread comes from, asks the big question - can entropy be reversed...err, is it possible that the threat of Thread can be removed? AIVAS answers in the affirmative - _if_ Pern is willing to relearn what the colonists knew, is willing to reconnect AIVAS to the databases on the starships, and is willing to put in the time and effort to perfect all of this new knowledge.

The Benden Weyrleader is on board, because Sacred Duty. The Lords Holder are definitely on board, because no longer having to pay tribute or defer to the Weyrs would be highly profitable for them.

AIVAS only now asks for the Records of the various Halls and Holds so that it can make an assessment of the planet's current tech levels and scientific understanding and formulate a plan to get Pern up to an appropriate level to beat Thread. After that, the assembled leaders determine that it would be best to restrict AIVAS to only those present in the room and Jaxom, so as to avoid having everyone making requests of it or getting to monopolize its time. A short discussion breaks out about who gets to use the machine first, when AIVAS points out that it doesn't have to be limited, assuming some parts of technology are still intact. (They are.) AIVAS shows the necessary parts and says that they can be assembled, if all intact, into twelve workstations, which would both solve the problem of access and provide a foundation of knowledge and application toward building the technology needed to defeat Thread. AIVAS prints the necessary blueprints and component lists, mentions it will need some extra material (and that paper will do in a pinch, causing some grins), and then Lessa insists everyone gets sleep. Robinton will have none of it, of course, but his objection is curtailed by the fact that Piemur spiked his wine cup with fellis juice.

Fandarel takes charge of finding the materials and getting people to assemble everything for the morning, and most of the assembled file out for the night, leaving Piemur alone with the AI for a bit (even though Jancis is sleeping and Menolly and Sebell have arrived). AIVAS tells Piemur that it's going to need more power than the solar panels to be able to run itself, and suggests rebuilding the hydroelectric facility in some way to do it.

AIVAS also solicits from Piemur, by only understanding what colonists would understand about a harper, and not knowing the extra functions of the Harpers, what exactly the Hall does, Sebell and Menolly, Robinton's special status as retired Masterharper (and he uses the words heart attack to describe what happened to Robinton - not necessarily wrong, given what little we know of Healer terminology and knowledge, but not necessarily what I would expect someone on Pern to call it), and useful cultural data about who can be addressed without title and who insists on it, as well as new knowledge for AIVAS about the abilities of dragons.

> "The culture and societies of your present-day Pern have evolved and altered considerably from the early days of the colony. It is incumbent on this facility to learn the new protocol and this avoid giving unnecessary offense.  
>  [...]  
>  Without intending any offense, is it currently acceptable to maintain the sports of the breed?"  
>  Piemur snorted. "You mean Ruth? He and Jaxom are exceptions--to a lot of rules. He's a Lord Holder and shouldn't ever have Impressed a dragon. But he did, and because they thought Ruth wouldn't survive long, he was allowed to be raised."  
>  "That is contradictory."  
>  "I know, but Ruth's special. He always knows **when** he is in time."  
>  [...AIVAS asks for more information, having known about the ability to go through space...]  
>  ...So if a dragonrider times it without his Weyrleader's express permission, he gets royally reamed--if he hasn't come to grief messing around with timing, that is."  
>  "Would you be good enough to explain in what circumstances timing is permissible?"

Today is apparently slang day on Pern, as a "reaming" is not something I would expect anyone on far-future Pern to use correctly. But also, it kind of makes sense for it to be Piemur involved in all this casual conversation with AIVAS.

Piemur tells AIVAS the story of Lessa's Ride, which prompts the AI to ask how many Long Intervals there have been (hey, look, chrono-correction! It's like someone has been listening to me well before I started). Sebell and Menolly arrived with the records. Piemur hopes to get them to startle when AIVAS talks to them, and so introduces Sebell (described as "browner than ever", which I can't decide is a comment about a tan or that Sebell has actually been brown and nobody has thought to mention it) and " _Master_ Menolly, Pern's ablest composer." (emphasis mine).

Menolly passed her Master exam! Woo-hoo! Couldn't we have seen this as the B-story to Renegades, instead of the retreading of Dragondrums? I'm sure it would have been a lot more interesting and told a lot more about Pern.

Belatedly, Piemur remembers the security setup, and so has to ask Menolly and Sebell to leave so that he and Jaxom can feed the records into AIVAS. Menolly drags Piemur to bed, so it's just Jaxom and AIVAS and a long night of scanning. And talking about Ruth's time sense and the dangers of hopping about in time, at least to start. AIVAS is them also able to extract a working knowledge of roles, responsibilities, and politics on Pern while Jaxom turns pages. Jancis (who has also apparently passed her Master examination at some point? I thought she was introduced as a Journeywoman in the last book...) takes over for a bit before AIVAS calls a halt due to low energy reserves. Jancis then goes to brew klah and Jaxom and Ruth exchange a worry about whether the dragons will become superfluous when Thread is permanently beaten. And a good example of expected Pernese slang.

<> _[Both Menolly and Jancis, in fact, have passed their Mastery without a mention of what happened or what they were required to do to get there. Which is great, but definitely feels like we could have spent more useful time in Renegades on mastery exams, where we could have had Menolly, Jancis, Sebell, and Piemur all doing various Harper and Smith assignments that turn out to be preparation for their exams and promotions. It's just a lot of missed opportunities.]_

> "A most felicitous happening, dear friend, not that it matters a lead mark how you and the other dragons came to be," Jaxom said stoutly.

Although it does raise some other questions, like why Pern considers lead coins to be worthless, since it was supposedly a resource-poor world. _[And because lead is a very important element for water piping, even though there are better ones to use later on.]_

There's also a little bit more about pronouns in a bit of a reversal of how AIVAS initially treated Ruth.

> It? He? Referring to this--this entity--as an 'it' seemed impolite. The masculine voice was so rich and lively. Yet Aivas called it/himself a machine, the product of an advanced technological culture and, for all its knowledge, an inanimate device. Jaxom felt more comfortable thinking of Aivas as real, real as his own flesh-and-blood self.

Use the pronouns that the entity prefers, rather than your own ideas, but of course, someone would argue that this particular issue isn't a relevant thing yet, so how could the author have known?

The rest of the chapter is the arrival of many dragons and important people. Lessa seems a bit put out that AIVAS is asleep when she has all these dignitaries present to see him, and the assembled crowd are told of how Sebell and Menolly couldn't do anything, prompting the Benden Weyrleader to approve of how AIVAS handled things based on the obedience to orders and Fandarel to approve based on the fact that it's a machine doing exactly as requested.

With no computer to talk to, Fandarel decides to make efficient use of time and go to the caves to gather the materials requested for making workstations.

It's a magical world out there, once again. Time to go exploring.


	2. Make Haste

Last chapter, AIVAS finished telling the story of the colonists and what went wrong with them, and indicated that it held a solution to permanently ridding the world of Thread, if Pern was willing to return to a high technology world. The ruling Council of Pern is on board with the idea, and has busily been getting the AI up to speed about what Ninth Pass Pern is like.

**All the Weyrs of Pern: Chapter Two: Content Notes: Sexism and Patriarchy**

Chapter Two picks up only a little while later, with lots of gawkers having come to see the strange machine with the moving picture show. And either a miracle or a failure of logistics happens:

> Then she [Lessa], with Menolly and Jancis, found volunteers among the women to do the drudge work of washing down the walls of long-disused rooms and shoveling out the dirty ash that had seeped on around windows and doors. The largest room, which the women decided most have originally been intended for conferences, was prepared for that purpose again.  
>  [...Lessa sends for furniture...]  
>  All these were washed down, revealing bright colors that made cheerful accents in the otherwise bare rooms. The room farthest from all the activity was turned into a private retreat for the Masterharper, complete with a comfortable bed, a well-cushioned chair, and a table.

Oh, no, wait, nevermind. Because of course it's the women who recruit only women to do the cleaning work. The men can't be bothered to help with that. It is "nice" that Lessa, who spent years as a drudge hiding from Fax, is the one who spearheads the operation, and that Menolly, Master Harper and composer, and Mastersmith Jancis are her lieutenants. Surely there are some apprentices somewhere that could be pulled aside and put to useful work so that they appreciate the drudgery.

Also, which Masterharper? Robinton or Sebell?

And then, insult follows injury.

> "The only problem will be in getting him to use it," Lessa said, giving the tale a final swipe with her cleaning cloth. She had smudges on her cheeks, across her fine-bridged nose, and on her strong chin. Her black hair was coming loose from its braids. Menolly and Jancis exchanged glances to decide who would tell her how dirty her face was. Jancis thought that the Weyrwoman's disarray, as well as her energetic cleaning, made her suddenly more accessible. The young Smithmaster had always been scared of the famous Weyrwoman.  
>  "Somehow I never thought that I'd see the Weyrwoman of Pern working like a drudge," Jancis murmured to Menolly. "She does it with a vengeance."  
>  "She had practice," Menolly said with a wry chuckle, "hiding herself away from Fax in Ruatha Hold before Impressing Ramoth."  
>  "But she looks as if she was enjoying this," Jancis said in faint surprise. Actually, she was, too. It gave her a sense of achievement to return a dirty room to cleanliness and order.

So not only is Lessa the one organizing the cleanup effort, she's enjoying doing the drudge work, as is Jancis. Because women are domestic, amirite? It's not like that ten years hiding from Fax wouldn't be a giant trauma scar for Lessa, unless dragon Impression is magic for your PTSD or something. And that Menolly would have scars from her treatment at Half-Circle and the Harper Hall. And likely Jancis, too, being the granddaughter of Fandarel and his efficiency monomania. She probably had to optimize everything before he would approve. That could make trauma, too.

But no, the women are enjoying themselves doing this work and happily volunteered to do it, and it helped Lessa get her anxiety out about the possible end of dragonriders and Thread. Actually, I'd believe Lessa doing it as a stress-buster much more than any other reason.

Maps get hung, Lessa passes an approving and silent judgment on Jancis as appropriate for Piemur and the AIVAS project, Menolly frets about trying to compose a song to explain all of this, and after Jancis goes out to get food and drink, Menolly frets that not everyone is going to be on board with the massive change that AIVAS represents. Lessa is dismissive of that, and suggests strongly that Sebell commission new Teaching Songs to promulgate the true origins of the settlers and Pern. Lessa is still enthusiastic about the prospects of life without Thread, and the narrative casually drops that Menolly is Harper Hall Master, which likely makes her Sebell's second as well as wife and mother to his children. And also a rather meteoric rise to prominence in the Hall. I wonder how many of the teaching and other Masters were resistant to the idea of having a woman in charge of them at the hall. And I also now want to know what Menolly has done about the program of taking Holder daughters and trying to teach them social music skills. And what the gender percentage of Harpers is now that Menolly is in change of the Hall.

But we get none of that, as Jancis returns with food and klah, and talk returns to AIVAS and the work being done in building the workstations. Then comes the Benden Weyrleader, complaining that everyone insisted on getting talk time with the machine, to which Lessa sits him down firmly and makes him eat and drink while he complains.

_[This is a moment for characterization that goes sailing by without comment, because of this insistence that women are innately domestic. Nevermind that Lessa is the most powerful dragonrider on Pern, Menolly is the first female Master Harper in a good long while (because later books will suddenly populate the Hall with plenty of women and expect us not to notice), and Jancis is a Master Smith who could probably field-strip a flamethrower, fix what's wrong with it, and reassemble it in a relatively short amount of time. But despite the presence of people who could be delegated the work of cleaning, they do it themselves. In some other novel, this might be a bonding moment between the three, as they all talk about the difficulties of being professional women in their various enterprises and being stuck with all of the domestic duties as well, being seen as lesser despite their achievements, and which of the Lords they would most enjoy sticking a knife in if they got the opportunity and enough plausible deniability to not be suspected._

_Or, it might be a situation where all three of them bond over their own traumatic upbringings and help each other go through small flashbacks or other things where they have situations that remind them of things that went poorly for them. It might not pass Bechdel, because they would be talking about men a lot, but it would be interesting. I fear, though, in the hands of this author, they would end up talking about the men they were romantically interested in, instead, and that would be worse than this not talking at all to each other about things of importance.]_

> F'lar gave her a rueful grin. "And you're handling me as you usually do, aren't you?"  
>  Lessa gave him a look of mild indignation as she slipped back into her chair and picked up her half-eaten roll. "Reassuring you, dear heart."  
>  From Mnementh, Lessa heard an incredulous mental snort.  
>  **Don't spoil the effect** , she told the bronze dragon.  
>  **Not likely** , Mnementh replied sleepily. **The sun is exceedingly warm here in this Landing place**.  
>  Ramoth agreed.

I miss the Lessa that had manipulative abilities and mental powers. Because it would be a fun story of how she has managed to bend Benden, and eventually Pern, to her will, all while letting the Weyrleader take the heat and be the public face of it all.

Anyway, Sebell appears to take Menolly and get her on the access list. There's an intriguing paragraph that would make a great fanfic prompt.

> As he often did, Sebell wondered at his great good fortune to have won Menolly as his mate. He could not mind that part of her heart which was Master Robinton's. Part of his was the Harper's, too, along with his complete loyalty and respect; but Menolly was the joy of his life.

Because we have yet to really see what kind of relationships are considered proper and which ones aren't on Pern, even though there's plenty of possibilities to pick from.

_[And despite the knowledge that the Todd books will expend a lot of ink on polyamory and introduce us to the first official lesbians on the page, it does absolutely nothing to shake us of the idea that both authors believe heterosexual monogamy is the one real and true relationship status, despite having built mechanisms and made strong suggestions that Weyr culture doesn't really practice that, and doesn't have any real incentives to do the same. They built a place where one would expect non-monogamy to reign supreme and then spend all their time trying to stuff that particular wish back into the place where it came from.]_

Sebell passes by Oterel, Tillek's Lord Holder, who grouses at not being able to get in and see the machine, and accuses Fandarel of nepotism, since Jancis is inside. Menolly gives as good as she gets at this point, which is a big change from the girl of Half-Circle Hold.

> "If you were able to draw clear diagrams as she does, Lord Oterel," Menolly said, "you would doubtless be in there." She had disliked the testy old Lord of Tillek Hold ever since he had spoken out so vehemently against her attaining her Mastery.  
>  Oterel glared fiercely back at her. Beyond him, Lord Toronas of Benden Hold covered a grin with his hand. "You're impudent, young woman, far too impudent! You dishonor your Hall."  
>  Sebell gave him a long quelling look and then pulled Menolly into the small room.

And in front of the Masterharper himself. Given the way that the dragonriders and many of the Holders seem to hold their honor much higher than their reasoning facilities, I would have expected a stronger response from Sebell than just a withering look. Up to and including a knife fight. Menolly could have used the support at that point. Perhaps not something as formal as a duel, but an aloud musing to make sure that the master in residence at Tillek for the next cycle will be the most promising woman musician at the Hall, or some other thing intended to tweak Oterel for his rudeness.

_[There could stand to be a lot more of women who are secure in their positions giving the Lords grief for their unsupportive ideas. While Lessa occasionally gives someone a what for, there should be a lot more of it.]_

As it is, the Harpers enter as AIVAS is giving final directions for an assembly. After the drafters leave (did nobody put more paper in the printer?), Menolly is added to the roster, with data on her duties as a composer and lyricist, her mate, Sebell, and their three children enough to get a good voiceprint. AIVAS asks for copies of her music, and reveals to her that it has an extensive collection of music in its data banks. Which will be left for the moment, as the more pressing needs of power and connectivity are handled.

The Lords outside are brought in and introduced, and Oterel gets to be pompous and disbelieving, Sigomal of Bitra learns that his Hold has a namesake, but not necessarily any details, Oterel gets his Hold's namesake, and the other Lords present are asked to add their Records so that AIVAS has a more complete understanding of the history it doesn't have. Wansor comes through with a question that he is reminded that he can scan in to get an answer before Toronas learns of his Hold's namesake.

The return of Jancis, Piemur, and Benelek signals the end of the visit for the Lords, and as they go out, Menolly marvels at the way in which AIVAS seems able to handle each of them exactly the way they want to be manipulated. (For the third time in as many pages.) AIVAS pipes up and mentions Robinton suggested tact and flattery would be useful. 

Boxes arrive and are scanned, and nothing really useful comes out of that segment except that apparently Mirrim and T'gellan got together as Weyrmates. Menolly approves, saying that Mirrim "had certainly bloomed and relaxed in the warmth of his preference," which I give a significant side-eye at, even though there's confirmation that Mirrim has not had her rougher edges removed. Perhaps sanded a touch. Still, Pern continues to rather ruthlessly put in heteronormative pairings for any characters that might have had the potential to sit outside that mold and be happy. (Without becoming Bitran villains, or Thellas.)

After the boxes are distributed, there's a conference called that pulls Sebell anyway, and Menolly, alone with the machine, asks for a sample of music, which turns up a recording of a song at Landing (after having to navigate the kind of music Menolly wants and give specifics) that leaves her speechless. It's "Home on the Range", which is apparently a tune that Menolly knows, even if not actually in that form. Which I'm willing to let slide a little bit more, since we can play music from a very long time ago, although we have to guess on certain things, since there's no surviving record of how to do it.

The chapter ends with a parade of electronics arriving for inspection from the various Smiths (and Piemur) that have been working on them.


	3. Skepticism Abounds

Last chapter, the AI went to work in earnest, detailing what would be needed to give it more power, to create more workstations for access, and what kind of knowledge would have to be relearned so as to make good on the threat to defeat Thread permanently.

And a lot of people were introduced to AIVAS, many of whom are not convinced it holds the solutions...

**All The Weyrs of Pern: Chapter Three: Content Notes: Homophobia**

The conference the last chapter alluded to opens this chapter, with open skepticism that AIVAS (a "talking wall") has anything useful for the planet at all. Robinton and Fandarel shut down that line of attack, and Lessa indicates the Lords are here mostly as a convenience and to avoid any accusations that anyone is hiding anything. Two Lords ask why AIVAS didn't do anything about defeating Thread earlier in time, to which the Benden Weyrleader points out the problem of the volcanoes altering plans.

This is the right question, but it's being asked of the wrong people. At this point, Lessa's Ride is most likely part of the Teaching Song canon, which means every Lord should know that dragons can do the time warp again. And so they should be asking why future dragonriders haven't already gone back in time and destroyed the Red Star before it could plague Pern. (Paradox notwithstanding, this is an excellent question, and deserves an answer, but that would mean explaining how the time travel works, which is more detail than anyone with narrative power wants to give about anything related to Pern.)

The questions continue, about why the dragonriders are so eager to put themselves out of planet-protection duty, and the wisdom of waiting until the quarterly meeting of the Lords Holder so that they can decide on whether to be on board with the plan. The Benden Weyrleader says that the Lords and the Craftmasters can make their own decisions, but delay is not a good idea on making use of AIVAS.

Master Glass-smith Norist, however, is more staunchly for TRADITION than even the Benden Weyrleader has been in the past.

> "What that Aivas suggested I do in the Craft which I have Mastered, and efficiently, for the past thirty Turns, goes against every established procedure of my Hall!" Norist wasn't going to give an inch.  
>  "Including the now illegible ones in your oldest Records?" Master Robinton asked gently. "And here is Master Fandarel, fretting to get on with the restoration of an ancestral power station, quite willing to accept new principles from Aivas."  
>  Something akin to a sneer curled Norist's thick, scarred lip. "We all know that Master Fandarel is endlessly fiddling about with gadgets and gimmicks."  
>  "Always efficient ones," Master Fandarel replied, ignoring the disparagement. "I can plainly see that every Craft can benefit from the knowledge stored in Aivas. This morning Bendarek was given invaluable advice on how to improve his paper, Aivas called it, and speed up its production.[...] Bendarek immediately saw the possibilities and has gone back to Lemos to develop this much more efficient method. That's why he's not here."  
>  "You and Bendarek," Norist said, a flick of his fingers dismissing the newest Mastercraftsman's products, "may exercise your prerogatives. I prefer to concentrate on maintaining the high standards of my Halls without dissipating effort on frivolous pursuits."  
>  [...Asgenar calls Norist out as a hypocrite, since Norist has no trouble benefiting from progress, even as he resists it...]  
>  "Glass is glass, made of sand, potash, and red lead," Norist stated stubbornly. "You can't improve on it."  
>  "But Aivas suggested ways to do just that," Master Robinton said at his most reasonable and persuasive.  
>  "I've wasted enough time here already." Norist stood up and stalked off down the hall.  
>  "Damned fool," Asgenar muttered under his breath.

To put it mildly, this is what happens when a story escapes the original boundaries put on it. So long as Pern remains a closed world with demon rain that happens every so often, the world can stay static. You can get good narrative out of following the exceptional person that appears every so often before the rain comes that resets everything, because having innovation persist past everyone going into survival mode takes doing.

Once you've introduced the sci-fi component and allowed the AI to be revitalized, though, there has to be some role redefinition. The most consistent characterization would be to put the Benden Weyrleader at the head of the faction resisting change, because TRADITION and that the dragonriders have the most to lose from a new order. With help from Robinton, who's already admitted to the Harper role in trying to keep things static. Maybe against Fandarel's invention squad, assisted from the inside by Menolly and Mirrim, possibly also Lessa and Brekke, who are in favor of a new world for women. (Piemur and Jaxom could also help, occasionally, just because they want to keep their unique selves.) This storyline would have followed on from a better handling of Thella and the "Renegades" who would be fighting the established society. And would have been much less shy about showing off all the bad things about static Pern. And with the discovery of an AI, an immediate fight would break out for control.

But, because it's already an established law of the universe that dragonriders can't be wrong, there has to be a shift in thinking or an excuse found to justify why Benden is on board with this. And to displace the insistence on TRADITION to someone else. I can handwave it if I invoke Sith Lessa and claim that she's been manipulating his mind over the course of their partnership to make him more open to the idea, but it would be nice if the narrative would give some justification past a single-minded devotion to a promise made many decades ago.

_[The comments to the original suggest that the Benden Weyrleader has always been a pragmatist for things that help with the destruction of Thread, because that's the Sacred Duty, even if he's been very conservative on everything else, so it's not as apparent a contradiction as it might otherwise appear._

_It's also interesting to see Norist here so early, as he's going to be one of the ringleaders of the anti-AIVAS faction that will spring up in reaction to the improvements suggested by the AI. They'll walk the line between Ned Ludd and his worries that machines will replace humans (a reasonable worry, given how many people the guilds employ) and an insistence that no machine could possibly have improvements to suggest about any of their practices, which Fandarel and the Smiths have already disproven. It's a nice touch, though, that there's a consistency of thought that Fandarel is an odd one out, a neophile obsessed with efficiency who is more than willing to chase things rather than stick to the traditions of his Hall. (Not for the first time, I wonder whether Fandarel is representative of someone on the autism spectrum, even though I doubt he was intentionally created as such.)]_

As it is, the conference adjourns, with some going back and some going to hear AIVAS tell the story of the colonists. After that, the assembled finally ask AIVAS the actual plan to beat Thread. Which gives them a deadline - in just about five years, there will be an opportunity to nudge the orbit of the Red Star in such a way that it will no longer drop Thread on Pern. The time-skipped dragonriders present ask why this wasn't done in the distant past, and AIVAS mentions that the conjunctions were wrong and that it didn't actually know enough to formulate the plan until after everyone fled to the north. (Time-traveling dragons, still.) So the new disciplines have to be learned and mastered, as well as a high degree of cooperation and coordination completed to make the plan work, all within this timeframe. AIVAS notes, accurately, that having the entire planet working on the task would make things easier. As everyone files out, gently but firmly dismissed by Master Terry, who needs to scan in a few more things to AIVAS, Robinton quietly asks whether AIVAS has a sense of humor. AIVAS dodges the question, and the scene shifts.

_[The way it actually happens does, in fact, involve time-traveling dragons. When we get there, I hope I remember to comment on how much it seems like AIVAS called an audible on its plans once it learned about the key component of the plan that eventually gets put into place.]_

Fandarel is brought to the site of the hydro dam, and begins immediate work on determining what can be restored and how, accompanied by several other trusted Smiths to help with both physical labor and design ideas. They draft up a water wheel for the building that used to hold the power generation for the dam, and then we jump back to the Benden Weyrleader, who is unhappy at having not convinced all the Holders to sign on, before K'van details a problem with Toric - Toric wants the Weyr's help to suppress a rebellion. K'van has told him no, that dragons don't ferry Hold soldiers, don't act as flying intelligence operatives for the Hold (to which Toric responded by trying to show dissent among the bronze riders about what their new Weyrleader should do as duty to the Holder), and then...

> "He tried to bribe one of my blue riders with the promise of finding him a suitable friend."

_[There's a cocowhat.]_

Oh, there's _so_ much to unpack there. First, there's the presumption that this is somehow an _effective_ bribe. Communal Weyr living should mean that there is no lack of companionship and friendliness, unless that rider is particularly adept at irritating everyone to the point of having no friends. So that shouldn't be a problem.

If this is supposed to be code for something which might be known extratextually, but hasn't had actual mention in the text, it's sloppy writing to start with. But also, it hasn't actually been established that there's anything different about blue riders. Because I think we've had...one? Two? blue riders that weren't background characters to this point, so we shouldn't have any reason to generalize.

And yet, even if that were true, and somehow had been set up properly, in the Ninth Pass, at this exact moment, we have exactly one green rider that's a woman - Mirrim. So, um, men having sex with men should be a complete non-issue in Weyr culture. If, say, it had been established that _Holder_ culture found same-sex relationships to be repugnant and that finding a suitable and discreet friend would be something a Holder son would be very interested in, then there's a possibility that this makes sense. But the expected reaction from a dragonrider would be to laugh it off in someone's face. Because everyone on the planet should be sufficiently steeped in dragonrider culture (or rumors about their wild sex parties and what it must be like to live there, if just having one fly over you can make you have sex with whomever is nearest to you) to know that the average rider is probably pansexual, even if they aren't open about it to everyone. It should be a non-issue.

The Benden Weyrleaders, however, are *pissed*.

> "You'd think he'd know better by this time not to try to bully dragonriders," she said, her voice crisp with anger. When she saw K'van's apprehensive expression, she gave him a reassuring touch. "It's scarcely your fault Toric is as greedy as a Bitran."  
>  "Desperate, more like," K'van said with a hint of a smile. "Master Idarolan told me that Toric had offered him a small fortune in terms and a fine harbor if he'd sail a punitive force to the Island. But he wouldn't. And, furthermore, he's told all the other Shipmasters that they're not to help Toric in this matter. They won't, either."

Perhaps they are more upset about the ways that Toric tried to manipulate K'van than at this bribe-that-isn't.

Also, I'm surprised at the restraint shown by the assembled when they had the Lord Holder of Bitra with the AI. Given that "Bitran" seems to be a six-letter word on Pern, and a machine that knew Avril Bitra, that nobody casually asked AIVAS about what the settlers thought of Bitra is a missed opportunity for petty cruelty.

_[The "manipulative AI" fanon suggests that AIVAS, with the knowledge it had, understood Lemos and Bitra and Nabol to be bad places and therefore made sure that the story they told reinforced the idea that Lemos and Bitra and Nabol were bad people. The comments also suggested that Toric's attempted bribe might have been to make a person who was resistant to the advances of the blue dragonrider more compliant to those advances. Which is a possibility, but the way things are phrased, and the way that Lessa reacts to it as "bullying" suggests that the author might have forgotten for a crucial moment about Weyr culture and assumed that everyone behaved like Lords and their culture does. The Todd books have similar kinds of failures in them, and really do a lot of work toward making the Weyrs "Holds with dragons" rather than truly separate entities with a distinct culture.]_

And finally, Idarolan might be incorruptible, but we just spent an entire book pointing out that his subordinates, and many of the other Craft-trained people in the planet, are very much corruptible. Toric has supposedly been building an entire network of contacts and skilled people. If he really wants to invade that island, he probably has the people to do it with, including people who can sail the ships.

K'van tries to allay this last point by claiming that the reason Toric fails is because he can't muster large enough ships to send a large enough fighting force to take back the island. And the Benden Weyrleaders decide to make a personal visit to inform Toric about all the interesting things going on at Landing. As well as for Lessa to chew Toric out for his behavior.

The scene cuts away to AIVAS giving Piemur instructions for plugging in a workstation. Which fails. And leads to a long recap of how everyone else is also facing trouble getting their machines working, despite having had to learn how to solder and using unfamiliar tools like a screwdriver. That the AI seems to have infinite patience is grinding on Piemur a bit. But he checks, rechecks, blows dust out of the workstation and plugs it in, getting the correct light and a prompt to appear. (No GUI for these interstellar travelers! Although the boot time on the terminal is quite impressive, considering.) After Piemur shouts for joy and nearly causes a bad solder for someone else, AIVAS instructs Piemur to [RTFM](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ReadTheFreakingManual) by typing in the README command. Soon Jancis and Benelek are also up and running, and the chapter closes with AIVAS asking if Jaxom will be among the students learning the system and Piemur expressing surprise at the prospect.

Well, of course Ruth should be involved. His timesense is leagues above every other dragon's. If there's an opportunity that requires a tight window to execute, Ruth would be the one to arrive at exactly the right time to give everyone enough time to do the right thing at the right time. Whatever that may be.

We'll see what Jaxom is up to next week.


	4. Fetch Quests

Last time, we learned a little more about the plan to beat Thread, that Toric is making trouble for K'van, and the first few workstations for AIVAS access came on-line.

And that the AI specifically would like Jaxom to be part of the cohort learning how to use the machines.

**All the Weyrs of Pern: Chapter Four: Content Notes: Cancer**

Jaxom is on fetch quest duty, a problem of his own making, because he tries to be helpful to requests made of him and Ruth. Back home, Sharra steps in when she feels Jaxom is being taken advantage of, but Sharra's not here, so Jaxom is doing a lot of running about helping, instead of assembling and programming machines, like he wants to. A stomach rumble reminds him that Sharra also insists that he takes meal breaks. Why isn't she here? Sharra's pregnant again, and we know hyperspace has an abortifacent effect. Grabbing food and witnessing attempts to heal a burnt hand reminds Jaxom that he promised to bring Oldive to AIVAS, so off he goes to collect the Masterhealer, while avoiding the apparent throngs of Harpers that want information or their own rides. Once back to Landing, Jaxom escorts Oldive to the AI, where the three from the last chapter are busily tapping away. Everyone but Oldive eventually removes themselves to another room, so that Jaxom can learn how to assemble a computer properly from components.

> Busy disassembling the makeshift table, Piemur shot Master Oldive an indulgent grin. "You'll get used to a disembodied voice real quick, the kind of sense Aivas talks."  
>  "Go teach yourself to be sensible for me, Young Piemur," Aivas said in a jocular tone that startled everyone.  
>  "Yes sir, good Master Aivas, yes, sir," Piemur quipped, bowing humbly as he backed out of the room, carrying the table board and nearly knocking himself down when he forgot to lower the board to get it through the door.

And thus, the reason why the dodge about whether the AI has a sense of humor - it's the setup for a joke later.

Alone with the AI, Oldive hears praise from AIVAS about the strength and health of the planet, given the intent for an agrarian society. "To that end, they were receptive to many anti-industrial cultures, like the ancient [Roma], as well as retired military types."

_[That's absolute bullshit, based on what was written in a previous work. The colonists were told they had to accept the travelers if they wanted to get their venture off the ground. Nobody had a choice in the matter of whether they were coming along for the ride or not. This would feed the manipulative AI fanon, but is also equally likely to be the authors forgetting or not caring about what they've already written.]_

Oldive demurs the praise, given plague and other things, to which AIVAS points out the survival and strengthening of the whole as the good things, and tries to mollify Oldive by pointing out that plague hit the Ancients hard, too. Leaving the point behind, Oldive gets to querying about the patients with specific symptoms, and we cut away to Jaxom and the other computer people, where Piemur continues to tease Jaxom about his confusion and being behind.

Considering that Piemur nearly died from "pranks" that got nasty, I still find it curious that the narrative continues to insist that he would be mean to someone else about lack of knowledge or otherwise. And that he would use Jaxom, who has spent most of his life being bullied about everything, as his target. Unless we're supposed to believe that Piemur is still upset with Jaxom for stealing his girl Sharra, even though he has Jancis provided to him by the narrative.

_[Which is entirely likely, given Pemur's unrequited crush on Sharra. I would like to think that Piemur learned from his near-death experience and forswore being a jerk to anyone, but he and Jaxom were characterized as people who felt entitled to the women they were interested in, and Jaxom, through virtue of dragon and higher social status, was able to take by force what Piemur would have had to try and obtain by cunning and ingratiation with Toric. And Piemur had been characterized as increasingly cranky at the prospect of all the people coming south and spoiling his pristine nature space, so jealous Piemur does seem to be, regrettably, in character. It's too bad. I miss the scamp.]_

There is much frustration going about learning the computers, with accidental keystrokes erasing work, error messages, and other such things resulting in Benelek and Jancis getting a little upset and Piemur cursing that twilight means the LCDs aren't easily visible. Lessa pops in to tell Jaxom that Oldive is done, and to rather firmly insist that everyone working at the machines gets some sleep. (Over Benelek's desire to learn, but AIVAS takes Lessa's side and remote-shutdowns the machines, assuring them their work is saved.) There is food and drink and Oldive has quite clearly had his mind expanded to the point where there's a lot more to have to learn than even he knows.

_[One can only write about the technology of the future as based on the technology of the now. I think AIVAS as a mainframe/supercomputer is a perfectly excellent idea, but I have to admit that computers being disassembled and having to be re-soldered together to be functional is not really the right idea for a future tech. The personal computer is a part of people's lives, but they've not yet been shrunk to phone or tablet sizes yet, with the corresponding rise in touchscreen-type interfaces and interactions, and we haven't yet had people building supercomputer clusters out of game consoles or Raspberry Pis, (plus, I'm worried about the batteries) so this is very much a case of[Zeerust](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Zeerust), because humans are not always the best about predicting the future by trying to extrapolate from the present. Even if what is being built is desktop PCs, having built more than a few of them myself, it's more assembly of components and plugging in the right connectors to the right places, not soldering together the mainboard and other boards and then slotting them into the correct places. These are terminals, after all, with keyboards and monitors, rather than having to learn how to program on a stack of punch cards to be fed in. So, yeah, it's not the future we imagine in this time, but it definitely was a possible future at that time.]_

Oldive also asks the next logical question about who to talk to about getting more time with the machine. Nobody appears to have thought that far ahead, and there's a short squabble about how to use the workstations that have been assembled. Which Lessa cuts off by pointing out how tired everyone is and ordering the lot, including the Weyrleaders, to bed. Jaxom takes Oldive to Ruatha, where Sharra is waiting and pushing them into the office so they can talk. After food and drink.

> "My dear, your female patient is suffering a gallbladder malfunction," the old healer told Sharra. "Unfortunately, the man appears to have a cancerous growth, as we suspected. We can cure the one, for I have been given a specific medication for dissolving the gravel within the organ, but we can only ease the other from life." Master Oldive paused, his eyes wide and bright with excitement. "Aivas has the most extraordinary fund of medical information, which he is quite willing to impart to us. He can even help us revive corrective surgical procedures, which you know I have yearned to do. Our Craft may have been limited to repair surgeries for lack of proper training, but he can help us recover much of that lost skill."  
>  "That would be wonderful, Master, but would we be able to overcome the prejudice in the Hall about intrusive measures?" Sharra exclaimed, her face mirroring her hope.  
>  "Now that we have a mentor of unquestionable probity, I think that once we have proved the benefits to patients who will not live without drastic measures, we can overcome those scruples." He drained his cup and resolutely rose to his feet.

The rest of the chapter is Jaxom gushing to Brand, the steward, about how new and exciting everything is, after Sharra and Oldive head to the infirmary, and Brand asking about whether AIVAS knows how to heat cold holds.

What I want to focus on, though, is that quoted passage. Up to this point, the surgeries that we had seen were for dragon wings, not humans. For a society like Pern, however, a distaste for surgery seems incredibly sensible, considering that while there were sterilization options for tools available in the Sixth Pass, there's no indication those have survived to the Ninth. Furthermore, there's probably no way of sterilizing the environment around someone, and so it would be very easy for infections to get into surgical sites and kill people. Oldive is right in that people who see no other way out will accept desperate options, but I don't see that prejudice about surgery going away until there's sufficient proof and knowledge available for it to be done regularly without complications.

Second, I know that science fiction stories are often excellent reflections in the time period that wrote them, but I was rather hoping that cancerous growths were a thing of the long gone past. I know that this time has been more than long enough for new mutations and methods to appear, but ugh, fatal cancers.

Next week will hopefully have a better ending note.

_[My entirely sensible conclusions will be wiped out by a later book that will instead insist that the taboo on surgery on Pern is borne of superstition and distrust of Healers and what they do with people they have done surgery on. Which might work for non-dragonriders and non-Harpers, if it has to, but dragonriders do surgery on their dragons all the time to patch them up from Thread injuries (and, in fact, in the Todd books, there are needle sizes that are named in relation to dragon wings), so they should be more willing to accept surgery on themselves as well. There's just that tiny bit of how sterilization of wounds and instruments either exists or doesn't as the plot needs it to. There's no explicit indication here that the Healers of the Ninth have access to sterilization techniques, even though, as the comments to the original point out, Pern has the necessary components and chemical knowledge to be able to create most sterilizing liquids and chemicals. But rather than concerns about infections (which would assume a level of medical knowledge and germ theory that the Ninth Pass really doesn't have), instead there are bizarre superstitions about what happens during surgery.]_


	5. Spin Doctorates

Last time, more planning to build up AIVAS, more Craftmasters getting useful information, more people refusing help, and more of Piemur making fun of Jaxom.

**All The Weyrs of Pern: Chapter Five: Content Notes: Misgendering, sexism**

Chapter Five opens with a different entreaty, from the Benden Weyrleader to Robinton, asking him to be the public voice and strongest advocate for doing things the AIVAS way. Robinton doesn't fully agree to it, because there's much fuss about him getting sleep, then bathing and eating in the morning, such that it's past noon when he sits to food with his handlers, D'ram and Lytol. Telling the story of the AI and the plan to beat Thread, Lytol asks the same question about why the colonists couldn't beat it then, and why they didn't come back later.

This is the third time the question has been asked of someone, which makes me wonder if someone is being defensive about a thing that's extratextual, as if the fans of the series had been asking this question and having to settle for this answer. It's clearly unsatisfactory to a good many people there.

> "And yet ... a musical instrument can only do what it is constructed to do, or one of Fandarel's machines. Therefore, a machine, even one as sophisticated as Aivas, could only do what it/he was designed to do. It/he"--I really must make up my mind how I consider the thing, Robinton thought--"is unlikely to tell lies. Though I suspect he," Robinton said, making up his mind, "does not reveal the whole truth. We've had enough trouble absorbing and understanding what he's already told us."

AIVAS has a preference for address. If it hasn't shown that preference in your presence yet, Robinton, it's because you're not paying attention, just like Jaxom wasn't. AIVAS prefers it pronouns, not he. But because humans want to anthropomorphize, we ignore the stated wishes of the intelligent being for our own comfort. This is bad practice, and I would have thought that having made contact with other intelligent species would have had lasting effects. _[Then again, humans were conveniently the only beings along for the ride on the colony ship, so whatever thing they might have learned about handling other species might have disappeared in the intervening time.]_

As it is, Lytol is skeptical, but D'ram is on board and suggests that Lytol come for the history lesson to be convinced. Robinton believes in it, too, although he thinks having to clutch his towel to prevent nudity affects the dignity of his pronouncement. This idly makes me wonder what a dragonrider and a former dragonrider really would think of male nudity, considering their societal requirements and the tendency of everyone to bathe in the local water pool in this place.

Rather than being a two-dimensional villain, though, D'ram lets on that Lytol's skepticism is entirely warranted:

> "He's too pragmatic. He told me yesterday that we were far too excited to think logically about the repercussions Aivas will have on our lives. Altering the basic structure of our society and its values and all that twaddle." D'ram's snort indicated that he did not agree. "He's been through several upheavals himself. He's unlikely to welcome another."

Uh, D'ram? Lytol is _exactly right_ and should be listened to. Robinton should know that intrinsically, even though he's enthusiastic about the possible changes. Which, actually, is a bit odd by itself, now that I think about it - Harpers have been tasked with making sure nothing changes for millennia, and yet the presence of an AI changes this? Because AIVAS is the most authoritative source on TRADITION there is?

Lytol is right, and so are all the people who have been snarking at the dragonriders about what their retirement plans are. The permanent removal of Thread as a planet-cleansing menace means that everyone will be able to live openly on their land, instead of having to pay protection to dragonriders and tribute to Holders. The cash system already in place could flourish incredibly. Holders might decide to fight each other for land and resources, now that there's no threat of Thread and dragonriders. The Crafts could finance these wars and then break the entire feudal system by ruining the fortunes of the hereditary nobility and calling in all their markers all at once. The Holdless might stake claims and tell anybody who says this isn't their land to get lost. An industrial revolution might happen. The Cult of AIVAS might take over and use the Harpers as its propaganda and enforcement arm.

Hell, the dragonriders might decide Pern is still better off under their rule and use their giant war machines to put everyone under their thumb. What's absolutely true is that the only way to avoid change now is to bury the AI and kill everyone who has any knowledge of it. Since that includes the most powerful people on the planet, including the Benden Weyrleader, change is inevitable. It's now a question of how well the cabal that has been running the world to this point will continue to do so, and how much resistance they receive from others.

After talking with Lytol, Robinton returns to a much-changed site of the AI, where a kerfuffle is developing because Esselin is not letting in people who are on errands from Miners and Lord Holders to collect the facts about the AI and report back. They have also been told that the AI is already omniscient, rather than having to bring the records of their own Holds to bolster its knowledge. Realizing that there are already too many to fit into a single go, Robinton tasks D'ram with organizing them into groups by lottery, and goes in to see Esselin and convince him that it's worth letting even the smallest of officials in to see.

> "But they're only Stewards and small miners..."  
>  "There are more of those than Lord Holders and Crafthallmasters and Weyrleaders, Esselin, and every single one of them has the right to approach Aivas."  
>  "That wasn't what I was told," Master Esselin said, resorting to his usual obstructive attitude, thrusting his heavy chin belligerently forward.  
>  Robinton eyed him pityingly for such a long moment that even the thick-skinned Esselin could not fall to notice his behavior was unacceptable to the Harper.  
>  "I think you will find before the day is out that you will be told differently, Master Esselin. Now, if you will excuse me..." And with that Robinton strode down the hall to the Aivas chamber.

Despite being officially retired, of course Robinton still has pull with everyone and can make it happen. If Robinton were a woman, the narrative would be conspiring and the game might be making argument that she has a tendency toward Suedom, but because it's an old man instead, this persuasive power is unremarked on, and seen as reasonable, since he rose to the office of the Masterharper of the planet.

Also, I think that's the first time in all of these books that I've seen the collective noun for the Crafthallmasters. Why they wouldn't be the Craftmasters or the Mastercrafters, I don't know, but there it is, nice big clunky word there.

_[Esselin also turns out to be important to the anti-AIVAS faction, but more importantly at this point, he's behaving like a Harper at this point. If the point is to control language and knowledge to keep a society static and perfect, then having a databank of knowledge available freely to query on any question threatens to expose the control systems of the Harpers themselves and create a much bigger call for change in the society, well beyond the things that Lytol, Robinton, or the Benden Weyrleaders might be concerned about. Rapid social disruption often comes with rapid technological disruption. If Robinton had an idea in mind of trying very specifically to destabilize the power of the Lord Holders, then giving everyone access and encouraging everyone to query AIVAS for improvements to their Crafts is a good way of doing it. Esselin, on the other hand, is trying to maintain the social structure by indicating that there should be a class of people who aren't powerful enough to approach the new font of knowledge, and that they should instead ask their betters to beseech the oracle. (Apt description, that, AIVAS, when we get to it.)]_

Robinton peeks in on a much-enlarged AI chamber as the Smiths and Miners are being shown a crucible and being told that they can use it to remelt faulty and damaged items, and that mixing old and new metal often results in an improved final product. AIVAS gets to a stop point, asks Robinton what he needs, and the Smiths and Miners, save Jancis, file out with their new data. Robinton immediately opens the window to circulate out some of the smell. And we have plot development that has happened while we were elsewhere, much to my annoyance.

> "And did you get any sleep last night, young woman?"  
>  Her cheeks dimpled in a mischievous smile. "Indeed we did!" And then she colored. "I mean, we both slept. I mean, Piemur feel asleep first--oh, blast!"  
>  Robinton laughed heartily. "I won't misconstrue, Jancis, even if it mattered. You're not going to let all this fuss and fascination delay your formal announcement, are you?"  
>  "No," she said firmly. "I want to bring the date forward." She blushed prettily but kept the eye contact. "It would make things easier." She gathered up her things. "The others are in the computer room. You might want to take a crack at it, too."

So we'll stop there for a moment while I get annoyed that Piemur and Jancis are engaged to marriage, and all we got to see was a little bit of flirting here and there. Although, now that I think about it, engagements, marriages, pregnancies, and childbirth have been basically handled off-screen since the beginning unless there's a significant point to be made with them, such as the coupling of the Benden Weyrleaders or when Alessan proposes to Nerilka as a suicide prevention measure. Menolly and Sebell, Jaxom and Sharra, Mirrim and T'gellan, and now Piemur and Jancis have all had their wishes to officialize things reported to us after the fact and that's interesting, as if someone doesn't want to write any sort of romance into their stories for fear that it would stop being taken seriously as genre fiction and be relegated to "romance". Which is utter speculation on my part, but I would be more inclined to believe that a clearly woman author, Grandmaster of science fiction or no, (her induction, according to my trip to the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame, is in 2005) is more of an impediment at that time than the presence of romance.

These lack of romance bits are also denying us crucial worldbuilding bits, like how marriage actually works in things other than Sixth Pass Lords Holder society. Does Piemur give Jancis a promise coin? Something else? How many times do they need to make the formal announcement? How many witnesses are needed? Does one of them have to be a Harper? We don't know, and nobody is telling.

Resuming...

> "Me?" The Harper was dumbfounded. "That's for young resilient minds like yours and Piemur's and Jaxom's."  
>  "Learning is not limited to the young, Master Robinton," Aivas said.  
>  "Well, we'll see," the Harper replied, hedging and running his fingers nervously over his face. He was acutely conscious that he could no longer retain the words and notes of new music and had few doubts that the problem would extend to other areas. He did not think himself a vain man, it excessively proud, but he did not wish to show to disadvantage. "We'll see. Meantime, we have a minor problem..."  
>  "With that lot out there, determined against all Master Esselin's prejudice on seeing Aivas?" Jancis asked.  
>  "Hmm, a minor miner problem," Robinton heard himself saying, and groaned.  
>  Jancis pleased him by chuckling. "It is apt," she said.

So, Robinton didn't want to believe himself vain or proud, but he's totally not going to show any weakness to anybody, even though he knows his memory is starting to go and his mind isn't able to pick up new things any more. Which is, y'know, pride. And makes me want to know whether Robinton has planned for his eventual decline of faculties. Has he been in contact with Sebell, and possibly Menolly, transferring the wealth of his experience and memory to a written form so that knowledge is not lost between generations? Has he made a directive as to what is to be done with his life when he slips to the point where he can no longer be himself? Has he been talking to dragons and AIs and Healers about the possibility of reversing the damage or staving it off for a long as possible? Confronting death is not easy for anyone, and having the knowledge that your decline is going to be gradual can't help that, even if it does allow for more planning time. Are there funerary arrangements to complete? Does Robinton want to go anywhere in the past for nostalgia, or try to jump forward on time to the moment of triumph against Thread? We don't know, and the narration is choosing not to tell us. _[And this is with Robinton already having suffered one heart attack and been retired from his profession, so the thought of his mortality and decline would likely be much more on his mind, even with the potential immersive distraction of AIVAS.]_

The petitioners outside are eventually admitted as a whole, after we are told that people have faith in oracles, and that it would take about 44 hours to explain the word adequately, since the file on religion is large. During the explanation, AIVAS refers to what it is, but then the book misformats and says "Or Aivas, to use the appropriate acronym." Even though the audience in the chamber can't hear the capital letters, they should still be printed that way, since it's an acronym. _[It could be deliberate, in how much the people that have met AIVAS consider it to be a person much more than a machine, and so they're anthropomorphizing it to the point where they want to spell it like a person, rather than as the initialism that it is. Which is what happened to CROM Hold, as we'll find out.]_

There is also a rather neat, if unplanned, demonstration of capabilities where a set of crumbling and molded records on microscope manufacture are scanned, reconstructed, and then printed as a new copy, fully restored. This awes everyone sufficiently that they can be shuffled out swiftly, with instructions to give any requests for more time or any questions to be answered to Robinton. Who then also takes on the task of making sure Esselin doesn't apply his own priorities to who gets to see AIVAS, and shares an admiration for the time-skipped before setting Esselin straight and finding D'ram in the computer room. Piemur tries to get Robinton involved in computing, but Robinton deflects by talking about how ill-suited Esselin is to their tasks.

> He's a thick as two short planks," Benelek grumbled. "And he doesn't like any of us coming and going as we need to."  
>  "I don't have any trouble," Jancis said, but her eyes danced with mischief. "All I have to do is give him a cup of klah or something to eat from the tray when I bring it in."  
>  "And that's another score I'm going to settle with ol' Master fuddy-duddy Esselin," Piemur said heatedly. "You are **not** a kitchen drudge. Does he never see the Master tab on your collar? Doesn't he know you're Fandarel's granddaughter and top of your own Craft?"  
>  "Oh, I think he will," Jaxom remarked without looking up from his board, fingers flying across it. "I caught his paternal act this morning, and I reminded him that the proper form of address for Jancis is Mastersmith. You know, I don't think he had noticed the collar tabs."

Or, perhaps, Esselin has the ingrained sexism of the planet that prevents him from believing that women can be anything other than drudges, wives, and queen riders. The same sexism that both Piemur and Jaxom have indulged in, before having that notion solidly disabused of them by Mirrim, Menolly, Sharra, and Jancis, in rapid and apparently very attractive succession. (Robinton has some of it, too - Jancis blushes prettily, but holds his gaze earlier.)

That said, if collar tabs instead of shoulder knots are the ways Smiths denote Mastery, then there are probably a lot of Mastersmiths that get mistaken for something else. So it could be genuine not noticing, were it not for the sexist attitude.

_[This is also interesting when juxtaposed against Lessa recruiting Jancis as part of the cleaning spree earlier in the book. Perhaps it's because Piemur knows better than to mouth off to Lessa about it, or perhaps it's because Lessa asked nicely, rather than being patriarchal to Jancis. But, again, we have Piemur doing this, which is consistent if Piemur is a Slytherin to the degree of only caring about things when they affect him and his, along with his attitude that what he wants, he should get, but otherwise seems to be a vacillation between the Piemur we knew as an apprentice and the Piemur we have now.]_

D'ram nominates himself as Esselin's replacement as door guard, to which Robinton provides AIVAS's earlier suggestion for just that, and both agree that dragging Lytol into it is also a good idea, before Mastersmith Hamian, who is of the same family as Toric and Sharra, concurs from the doorway before asking if he can inquire of AIVAS for the technique and technology to make plastics. The AI says that there shouldn't be a reason why not, that there's petroleum on the surface nearby, and that Hamian not only gather equipment to disassemble and reassemble in that vicinity, but to start drafting a staff to assist and to get ready to learn a lot of chemistry and physics to make it possible to make the plastics again. Hamian is ready, and heads out to pick up the machines for study. Conveniently, this also gives an excuse for Robinton and D'ram to relieve Esselin and send him firmly back to the archives. Not too soon after that, Piemur gets a program to run correctly. Despite his earlier recalcitrance, Robinton decides to dive in to computer assembly and programming.

There's a quick time skip, and we're treated to a scene where Robinton, waking up when his fire lizard tells him something is very wrong, attempts to stop vandals from smashing some of the battery tanks being used to give AIVAS power reserves. It takes Zair and fire lizards to fend them off enough before they flee. Robinton is furious that he dozed in the first place, even though the damage wasn't enough to affect capacity and there are spares. And then we get treated to more tell without showing, before the chapter ends with everybody trying to find the vandals.

> He knew there was a growing antagonism to Aivas, but he had not really considered, even for a moment, that someone would actually attack the facility.  
>  But who? he wondered, sipping at the wine and feeling its usual efficacious soothing. Esselin? He doubted the fat old fool would dare, no matter how upset he might have been over losing his sinecure. Had any of Norist's glassmen been at Landing that day?

I'd like to have _seen_ that "growing antagonism", thank you very much, because otherwise I have to just take your word for it or extrapolate a ton from the one confrontation with Norist on screen. The development of an anti-AI faction, in the way that, say, the Thella storyline from the previous book had been developed, with their perspective, would have been _awesome_.

Assuming, that is, that they would be treated as competent villains, instead of poor caricatures of them.

_[Lucky me, we will get to see some of it in a later book. The difficult being that in this book, the anti-AIVAS faction seems to have spun up fairly quickly. In the later book, things will have spun up much more slowly, but become much more of a headache for the Harpers that are trying to combat them. Compounding the unfortunate-ness, they will be poor caricatures and not competent villains. Be careful what you wish for, right?]_


	6. From Behind the Black

Last time, more knowledge dispensed from the AI, some skepticism came forth, from both unreasonable sources and very reasonable ones, and there was vandalism and destruction of some of the AI's batteries, revealing the presence of an anti-AI group that supposedly had been noticed by Robinton, but that hadn't been arsed to actually be put into the narrative until they attacked and did damage.

**All the Weyrs of Pern: Chapter 6: Content Notes: Sexism, ageism, hagiography**

The first paragraph of the new chapter makes sure to contrast itself with the vandalism by extolling how the power trio of the retired Harper, the retired Weyrleader, and the retired Lord Holder (Lord Warder, technically), each with a reputation for impartiality, worked extremely well and used their shared knowledge together in the administration of the AIVAS's time and workstations. I have a feeling, although it might be unvarnished cynicism, that the composition of the administrative team may have also forestalled complaints about favoritism or partisanship by giving nobody an avenue to grouse about their pillar of Pernese society not being represented on the council.

From there, the next few paragraphs are dedicated to what happens when a new thing comes into view - it becomes an outlet for Holders to send their non-inheriting children to in the hope of foisting them off on someone else so they don't have to be fed or cared for at their Hold. The AI, however, stops the practice by instituting an aptitude test to weed out the candidates that won't cut it as students.  
Then there's a rundown of how the named characters do with the computers.

> Lessa and F'lar never became proficient in their use of a console, mostly because, in the Harper's estimation, they had little time to spend learning the essentials; but they did grasp the fundamentals of accessing information. [The Brown Rider Rapist] didn't even try, but his mate, Brekke, joined the Masterhealer's dedicated group in their striving to regain the lost medical techniques. Mirrim, determined to keep up with T'gellan, struggled on despite a most distressing start and succeeded. K'van became as adept as Jaxom and Piemur.  
>  To the surprise and delight of his close associates, the taciturn Lytol became an avid user, accessing files from the widest range of topics. He insisted on taking the late shift, as he never required me than four hours of sleep anyway.  
>  "Lytol's always been a deep person, with unexpected reserves--or he wouldn't have survived as long as he has," Jaxom replied to those who commented on Lytol's new obsession. "Though I don't understand his fascination with all that dry historical stuff when there's so much more that we can apply to **living** and working here and now."  
>  "On the contrary, Jaxom," the Harper replied. "Lytol's investigations may be the most significant of all."

So, young dudes succeed, older dudes don't get it fully, and the oldest dudes surprise everyone by picking it up really well. Mirrim, of course, had to stumble first, because she's trying to rise "above" her gender and be a dude in all the important ways, but she has to be reminded that she will not ever be a dude, no matter how much she tries. Whereas Brekke, model of womanhood and sticking with your attacker, joins a group of the best Healers. And nobody young understands why the old guy would be interested in how things were before the demon rain came down, as they work on getting to stop the demon rain from ever coming back. Because apparently only the older people understand what sort of upheaval is about to happen when the biggest threat to life on Pern is no longer present. It feels very dudebro, long before that kind of thing was into common parlance.

The narrative then explains the classrooms that are put to use for instruction in the sciences, taking care to mention that the Weyrs are the most eager groups to send students for general and special instruction without noting that the Weyrs' relative idleness is what permits them to send wings of students to study. Robinton peeks in on various classes, one on electromagnets, one eventually on refrigeration and the properties of liquified gases that ends up being an excellent demonstration on why personal protective equipment is necessary when a glass thermos explodes in the face of a Smith apprentice. The apprentice is wearing eye protection, thankfully.

There is eventually a discussion of the wisdom of rebuilding a settlement that has already been buried in ash once, but AIVAS assures them that it is still monitoring the volcanoes, with instruments that apparently are still functional some 2500+ revolutions later, and says it's not likely they're going to blow up again.

That, however, is apparently less important than the developing problem that Norist is presenting with his strongly anti-AIVAS position. Which should have been in the _last_ chapter, _before_ the vandalism, so that the damage doesn't appear to have come out of nowhere and there is plenty of plot to work with in investigating whether Norist is responsible.

Anyway,

> "As you know, he had threatened to disavow Master Morilton's Mastery and disown all journeymen and apprentices who have produced glass according to the, ahem, spurious methods and techniques of Aivas."  
>  "He calls Aivas 'the Abomination'!" Piemur said with a malicious chuckle.  
>  [...AIVAS apparently doesn't mind, and Robinton continues after a diversion on whether the AI finds the humans amusing...]  
>  "As the duly elected Mastercraftsman, guiding his Halls, he can only be replaced at a convocation of all Masters. Unfortunately, the Glass-smithcraft is not a large one, and most of the Crafthallmasters are as dogmatic as Norist. On the other hand, I won't sit by and see Master Morilton disavowed or harassed or humiliated because he has learned something Norist didn't teach him. He's certainly proved adept at the new skills."

This is all really good development work, and sets up the upcoming conflict nicely. That is, if we weren't in a situation where one of the sides in this argument still has mounted flamethrowers that could presumably be used to intimidate anyone and everyone around them into doing what they want. Pern continues to be a very strange place in that the people who have the power have significant restraint in how they use it. Blame it on the dragons, maybe?

Also, I think this is the first time we've really had it explicitly spelled out that the Guild Masters can interdict people. It's been hinted at in the last book (considering that expelled apprentices and journeypeople were part of Toric's strategy to be the juggernaut of the South and Thella's strategy to be the queen of the holdless) and we knew that craftmasters could interdict a Hold that wasn't treating them well, and if we want to think about it, the whole sequence of stamped versus unstamped goods at the Gather back in the Harper Hall trilogy suggests there's an approval system in place, but knowing that a guildmaster can unilaterally decide if someone is part of the guild fits in really well with Pern, even if it is inconvenient to the protagonists at this point. 

And inconvenience is all it will be, most likely, as Lytol decides he might go lean on Norist in the same way that Norist is leaning on Morilton and Wansor, and Jaxom and D'ram both decide to use their offices to get the high quality glass that's being denied to Morilton. 

The Benden Weyrleader asks a smart question, about whether there are closer sand pits that can do the job, Robinton enters the query, and alternative sites are also chosen for examination.

Robinton also remarks that the AI wants more of the bronze and green dragons as possible candidates for the plan, the details of which are not being provided. In further speculation and complaints about how AIVAS is not detailing the plans out, Lessa notices that Jaxom is being singled out for extra attention. Piemur adds that Mirrim and S'len are also getting the intense course, and speculates that the reason why is because their dragons are the smallest and the AI needs small dragons for the grand plan, _especially_ Jaxom and Ruth.

Spoilers: Piemur is right. (Which, arguably, makes Jaxom the main character of the entire series, even if he's not always in focus.) Since my memory is hazy about the actual eventual Plan, I won't talk more about it until we get there, but there is a thing that needs to be addressed at this point.

_[And now I can, which is to say that, apart from the Harper Hall trilogy, the Ninth Pass of Pern is the story of Jaxom. His birth in Dragonflight sets the entire plot in motion, he Impresses Ruth in The White Dragon, he gets to spite Toric and marry Sharra, he does something to foil the time-skipped, and he will be integral in both defeating the anti-AIVAS faction that's developing and in the actual execution of the AIVAS plan for moving the wanderer out of the orbit that will bring Thread with it. Well, Ruth will, anyway. Jaxom's a little bit of along for the ride, but also being the consistently competent character that a protagonist would be, even one that might be derisively referred to as Gary Stu. For as much as the story and series are about dragonriders, the Ninth Pass works center Jaxom as crucial to everything, even if the narrative doesn't always stay with him. And Jaxom will be the person who gets to first witness the success of the plan, since he has the ability to warp forward and see the results himself. A decision to foreground a man, instead. Although possibly not intentionally?]_

As the comments have mentioned, now that we've rediscovered the AI, AIVAS is very deliberately manipulating everyone, through strategic release and withholding of information so as to further its goals and purposes. The aptitude tests are not just weeders for the excess sons, but are presumably looking for people with talent in specific areas that will take to various disciplines. The narrative, through Piemur, informs us that Jaxom has the best three-dimensional navigational mathematics skills, then has Robinton volunteer that he's been getting fed literature and sagas that Pernese stories are paraphrases of, and privately tells us that the Benden Weyrleader studies tactics, Threadfall forecasting, and draconic healing. Piemur is, of course, fascinated by computers. Lytol has been getting a steady diet of politics, and

> "I don't think any of us realized that our present political structure was handed down from the very Charter of ancestors brought with them. That is historically very unusual, Aivas told me."  
>  "Why should it be?" F'lar asked, mildly surprised. "It allows Weyr, Hold, and Hall to function without interference."  
>  "Ah, but interference was a major factor in Terran politics," Lytol replied. "Spurred by territorial imperatives and, all too often, sheer greed."

Said the AI to the Warder whose Hold was annexed by Fax before he came to be in charge of it. _[On a world where there's one particular hold that is so known for parsimony and greed that they've become the epithet for it.]_

The narrative is proceeding with all of this on the assumption that the AI is telling the heroes the truth, even though there's been instances where they have observed AIVAS using what might be described as "skillful means" to achieve its goals. The account of the colonists we read in Dragonsdawn is apparently the story that AIVAS has been telling everyone. There's no guarantee that it actually is telling the full truth, and seems to be relying on the credibility it receives as a source of scientific knowledge to talk about social, political, and cultural things. Lytol's skepticism is warranted, and we hope that he is examining the information received with a critical eye and trying to see if he's getting the entire picture, because in Terran history we repeatedly run across the problem of having only a single source, and usually, that source is the winners of whatever conflict they are talking about.

_[Also, it's patently ridiculous that the governmental system survived unaltered from the Charter to the present day when the Charter was the Randian paradise of rugged individualism, and the current feudal arrangement was a shift from the Charter because of the new unknown threat. And even then, even with places that practiced feudal arragnements, there was significant variance among the period until they were eventually usurped by mercantile capitalism and trade. Any claims of static culture is something that's important for propaganda values, but is always false when it comes to truth values.]_

AIVAS is faithfully attempting to execute its plan to rid the world of Thread. What _else_ is it doing in service of that goal, and what isn't it saying about those goals? Does AIVAS need to completely rework Pernese social structure so as to gain the manufacturing capacity for the plan? Who will be its mouthpieces and actors? Will AIVAS cut someone off if they start straying too far from the path?

Why do we keep ending up in situations where there are Our Heroes and Cartoon Villains any time an opportunity for social commentary arises? Are our books also records told and spun by AIVAS in service of a master narrative? We don't know, and the narrative seems determined to indicate there's nothing behind the curtain at all, move along.

Jaxom and Ruth head to Paradise River, collect some of the sample same, and talk to Aramina and Jayge, who have a story from young Readis and Alemi about squid dragging a boat into a current, a storm capsizing that boat, and shipfish returning them back to shore, and the boat the next morning. Which sounds like a normal story, except that Readis says that the shipfish talk to them while they're being rescued. Jayge confirms the story, and asks Jaxom to talk to the AI about the shipfish, even calling them doll-fins. Jaxom says he will, and then does a quick time-shift back to Ruatha...in the middle of a blizzard. While fretting about how there's a lot of stuff going on in her life, Jaxom hits on the solution of how to keep his wife nearby - bring her south on a ship. He purposes this to her, and is met with great enthusiasm, including sex, apparently.

We switch back to the south, where the AI has recommended that the Harper Hall build itself a printing press, so that all the "nonessential" things, like music compositions, can be replicated worldwide. Robinton is a little worried about having the personnel to create it, but AIVAS considers it the right time for this to happen, and details what will be needed to create such a thing, including mentioning the journeyman that brought the initial message to both men as an excellent carver who could create the requisite movable type for the press.

This is the invention that finally smacks Robinton squarely between the eyes to realize what sort of changes are about to happen.

> The effects on Hold, Hall, and Weyr, only beginning to filter through, would be profound. Lytol, having delved into the history and politics of their ancestors, had always worried about what he called the erosion of values and the subversion of tradition by new demands.  
>  [...and what about the dragons?...]  
>  In Robinton's estimation, the Weyrs deserved whatever they requested after centuries of service, but would the Lord Holders, and the Halls, agree? That concerned him the most. Yet it seemed to worry the Weyrleaders least. And what if, in the four Turns ten months, and three days specified by Aivas, the attempt should fail? What then?  
>  Perhaps, and he brightened suddenly, all this new technology would absorb both Hold and Hall, to the exclusion of the Weyrs. Hold and Hall had always managed quite nicely to ignore the Weyrs between Passes. Perhaps things like power stations and printing presses were indeed valuable, but for more abstruse reasons, as well as the obvious ones.

Lytol may still be the only person on the planet who has an inkling of what all of this new technology will do to the society. Robinton is starting to understand and think about the right questions and effects. So he goes to AIVAS and asks if everything is really necessary. And gets a rather interesting reply.

> "Not to the way of life you had, Master Robinton. But to accomplish what is apparently the desire of the majority of Pern, the destruction of Thread, improvements are essential. Your ancestors did not employ the highest technology available to them: They preferred to use the lowest level necessary to perform the function. That is the level that is presently being reestablished. As you yourself requested in the initial interview."  
>  Robinton wondered if he had imagined the tone of mild reproof. "Water-driven power..." he began.  
>  "Which you already had available to you."  
>  "Printing presses?"  
>  "Your Records were printed, but in a laborious and time-consuming fashion that, unfortunately, permitted errors to be made and perpetuated.  
>  "The teaching consoles?"  
>  "You have harpers who instruct by set lessons. You had even managed to rediscover papermaking before accessing this facility. Most papermaking techniques, Masterharper, are refinements of techniques you already employ, made easier by some basic machinery and of no higher level than your ancestors brought with them. It is little more than correcting long-standing errors and misconceptions. The spirit of the original charter is still intact. Even the technology that must be utilized to thwart the return of the wanderer planet will be of the same level as your ancestors'.  
>  [...which could be better if communication were still a thing between here and Terra...]  
>  He could scarcely fault Aivas for doing what had been specifically requested, that Pern be brought back to the level of knowledge it had originally enjoyed. It was obvious that Aivas was obeying the initial request that only what was really needed be revived. It was just stunning to realize how much **had** been lost.

And how would you know that, Robinton, unless you believe that what AIVAS is telling you is true? An entity that admits to manipulating you is still apparently highly trustworthy? And the machine is selling you this idea that it is only doing what the ancestors wanted, which is conveniently not fact checkable because it is the only surviving link to those same ancestors. It has supposedly had about 2500 years to think and learn about what went wrong, and there's a good chance it might have concluded that the Randian paradise set up at the outset was the problem. Presented with a feudal arrangement along with some interesting intersections, AIVAS is setting itself up as the ruling entity of the planet, with the end goal of eliminating Thread. Those it favors, it rewards with technology. Those it opposes, it sends minions after to bring them into line.

AIVAS is positioned to become Skynet, should things go in any particular way, and nobody seems to be interested in that problem, since Norist's objections are described as being basically "TRADITION CAN'T HEAR YOU LA LA LA".

Lytol might be the remaining hope for thinking through the consequences before diving straight in. We'll find out soon enough.

_[AIVAS also carefully couches the idea of strongly improving Pern's ambient technology level in talk of bringing the place back to its former glory. It's not going all the way to the way things were, because there aren't plans to reproduce the flying sleds, for example, but AIVAS is starting with the smallest improvements, framing them as one more step along the path that was already being taken, and then moving further to the next thing once everyone has become comfortable with their slightly higher-tech life. And since AIVAS has allies in people who have real and political power on the planet, I suspect that when discontent appears, or when stratification appears, AIVAS will be able to rely on its allies to protect it and to squash the discontent. It might even believe that other factions can be persuaded to part from their methods. (It doesn't. There will be at least one time where AIVAS engages self-defense systems against the anti-AIVAS faction.) This is being sold to them as learning science and methods on defeating Thread, and that will be the eventual goal, but what's actually going on is a massive restructuring of Pernese society and hoping that it holds together long enough to achieve the goal of getting rid of Thread completely. I'm intrigued that it's Lytol who is the fastest to twig to the scale of what is about to happen. Perhaps because he's been in enough nontraditional situations that he can spot the consequences of this seemingly innocuous shift?_

_We can also compare this form of instruction, where the people are being shepherded down a path they don't fully see the end of, with the way that the Todd books will handle learning-over-distance-and-time by having a classroom installed, with materials and lessons as well as a lecturing voice that plays and walks them through the basics of Pernese genetics as well as the tools they'll need to be able to successfully accomplish their task of rewriting the dragons' genetic codes to give them an immunity to a dragon-destroying illness. While AIVAS's task is much more complex, there's never a sense that Emorra and her instructional crew are trying to guide social change or anything else along with it. Instead, they're trying to teach a discrete body of knowledge, so that a specific result can be achieved by the students. How they go about it is another thing, because there's paradoxical time travel involved, but I trust the secret classroom a lot more than I trust the AI directing the learning and, as we'll see in later chapters, deflecting or refusing to explain certain things to the people that ask it questions because it doesn't believe they could understand him and they don't have the knowledge for it to be useful.]_


	7. Full Steam Ahead

Last time, AIVAS dangled technology and accounts of history in front of Our Heroes, who snapped it up without a second thought. There's an anti-AI faction in the Glass-smiths, but they haven't been given characterization that passes into the second dimension yet. And the march of progress continues anyway...

**All the Weyrs of Pern: Chapter 7: Content Notes: Abuse**

Present Pass 19. In other words, a _two year timeskip_ , which is, well, 

_[One cocowhat for now…]_

The end of the last chapter was the beginning of an industrial and social revolution on Pern, with at least a cartoonish opposition group also getting off the ground. This should be an entire book's worth of back and forth, with battles, victories, defeats, sabotage, changes of sides, and all the rest. But no, it gets skipped. Not interesting enough. We're supposed to accept it as foregone that the technological side wins and continues their plans. Because they're clearly Good.

This chapter opens with Lessa popping awake in the middle of the night and flailing a bit to try and figure out why, before the "lighted clock face" on the side of the bed reminds her that both Weyrleaders have an appointment at Landing early their time. 

_[…and one cocowhat for later.]_

Clocks are not electronic mechanisms, and so would make sense to have on Pern. _Lit_ clocks means lightbulbs powered by batteries, radioactive or reflective painting, or that AIVAS somehow convinced others to synthesize a glow in the dark chemical and apply it to timepieces. _[Which might have been doable with the glow funguses.]_ These are not things that are just "oh, they have clocks now that glow in the dark!" Can dragonriders use a timepiece as an accurate mental model for time-hopping? _[Yes, and they will.]_ Who came up with the time zone designations for the planet? Is there a mass transit system? There's so much that's been skipped that I guess we'll have to piece together through observation.

The Weyrleaders get dressed, banter a bit, make sure the watchrider that's fallen asleep gets scared witless for doing so (and demoted to carrying firestone sacks during the next Threadfall, normally a weyrling task), and then grab some breakfast before doing a time-jump back to Landing, speculating that today might be the day when AIVAS unveils the Project, the plan to knock the Red Star out of orbit permanently, and how that might affect the politics of choosing Oterel's successor Lord.

Ah, and more crumbs of how the world has changed.

> Lessa had to grin, remembering the fuss Ranrel's innovative engineering had caused among those who derided or downright rejected any useful products of "the Abomination." F'lar scratched sleepily at his scalp and yawned.  
>  "And when the other brothers tried to belittle  
>  Ranrel's project, along comes Master Idarolan, raving about the facilities," she said.  
>  "That's not going to hurt when the Lord Holders convene. His mate's a Masterweaver. **She's** interested in having a power loom. I don't know where she found out that such things were possible."  
>  Lessa threw up her hands. " **Everyone's** gone 'power' mad."  
>  "It sure reduces sheer drudgery."  
>  "Hmm. Yes. Well, eat up. We'll be late."

Nnnnnngh...

That is a violation of characterization. Lessa disguised herself as a drudge to escape Fax, and as recently as a couple chapters ago, roped women into helping her do drudge work. She should know exactly how drudgery is mind killing, body breaking, and how much drudges are exposed to violence of all sorts. She should be at the forefront of getting rid of drudge work through machine labor, not pish-toshing at the craze for electrically powered labor-saving devices. And every woman on Pern should be right there with her.

If anyone should be clueless or failing to understand the implications, it should be the Benden Weyrleader, since he has lived a privileged life, with servants and underlings and the ability to basically take whatever he's wanted in exchange for protection. That he supposedly has the insight about labor-saving devices to her skepticism is violence done to her character.

Furthermore, the presence of power looms asks more questions. What does the power grid look like on Pern? Does every Hold have its own power station? Does it extend to outlying holders? Does Fandarel's telegraph get used as a message relay between places? Are all the wires buried, because Thread is hot enough to slice through them? Is it water wheels and dams that provide power? I don't know, and since we time-skipped, that's probably never going to get answered.

_[It was suggested in the comments that Lessa might not be sympathetic to the plight of drudges at all, since she might buy into the idea that they are all lazy and need to be constantly supervised, and since we never get a good peek inside her brain in this sequence, we don't know. I would like to believe that with as much as Lessa experienced as a drudge and, if we push aside the narrative's insistence that all women are domestic and enjoy being domestic, even when they're doing other things, as much as she has to run the operations of the Weyr, even only if in conjunction with Manora, that Lessa would be very much on board with the idea of using mechanization as a way of freeing up women from endless drudgery and making it possible for them to do other things. Even if her conception of women doesn't include drudges, presumably she knows and has seen some of the arts that are capable by people doing fine work when they have the time. And Lessa is also against Norist's idea of pure, unchanging traditional arts, so it seems like she'd be on board with change and improvement at least as much as the Benden Weyrleader is, if not more so because she might actually think about the women.]_

Second, one of two consequences has happened. Either the output of Pern and its consumption of resources has gone up by the multiplier of these machines, to which I hope there is sufficient demand and need for that output, or there are a lot of people who were attached to a hold that are now holdless, as those Holders realized that with machines, they only needed to feed a fraction of their drudge and staff populations to get the same amount of output. If, say, Thella, Lady Holdless, were present, she could seize upon mechanization as the cause of societal ills, ally herself with the anti-AI faction (possibly through a proxy), and then cause great unrest and insurrection by pointing out that the Lords Holder and the Craftmasters profit from labor far in excess of whatever payment is delivered to the laborers. There should be, or should have been, a popular uprising at some point (or some point soon) that had to be stopped in some way. The fundamentals of the world have changed, but the author seems unwilling to make changes based on the new information. Perhaps because the life of the privileged hasn't actually changed all that much...yet.

_[Similarly, the possibility was raised that the machines might not be in favor because there's so much population that will do anything to make sure they don't get eaten by Thread that widespread mechanization hasn't happened yet. Which is believable, but now that I think about it, what might be the biggest stopper of mechanized industry on Pern is the cost associated with power production and distribution. Getting it right so there's enough juice available for when someone wants to use a machine, without causing power dips in other places is pretty complex. And all the wiring has to be buried, or the power has to be transported in some portable contained to be used in the machines. Since there were "power packs" in the original designs, perhaps those have been replicated and there's a brisk business in power generation and distribution by battery everywhere.]_

On the way to the meeting, there is triumph about the manufacture of light bulbs by Morilton, and Jaxom worries about the increasing number of people in the anti-AI faction, called "dissidents" by Jaxom, pointing out how Our Heroes think about who should be running the world.

_[Or not. Light bulbs are very continuous power and switches sorts of things. What would be really neat, though, would be if the Ninth Pass managed to make Tesla's dream of wireless power transmission a reality, and so they can use lightbulbs and other such things by simply pulling the power out of the air. After all, who says you have to build it exactly the same way, with power cables and sockets and outlets and all of that power grid stuff when you could build things that ran on wireless power provided by a power station somewhere in the Hold. (Probably not, as radio waves don't go through rock all that well, but it was a nice thought.)]_

The actual meeting is to send Farli up to the Yokohama to turn the life support system back on. We are treated to what should be a grisly sight, namely the body of Sallah Telgar, apparently preserved all these years in the airless ship, before Farli is sent to her task, since dragons and fire lizards can survive without oxygen for up to ten minutes safely.

(Also, despite it being logical to do so, dragons and fire lizards have no explicit telekinesis, despite being able to hyperspace themselves about.)

Farli doesn't get it, possibly because Piemur doesn't, and so the Benden Weyrleaders send out for Canth, the only dragon that's gone off-world, to try and make an explanation that Farli will understand. Canth and Ruth both tell their riders that Farli gets it, just that she hasn't been to the right place so as to go back there. After thinking Ruth could fit and deciding that waiting for the reconstruction of suits would take too long, as well as a silent acknowledgement that is HNO3, rather than agenothree, Jaxom is at a loss.

Ruth, on the other hand, gets it and pops up to the Yokohama with the perfect precision needed to fit. And with an anchor there, Farli can follow and achieve her task. Ruth rather enjoys microgravity, and while everyone on the planets is busily shouting for Ruth to get back, he executes a few turns and floats and asks Jason if they can come back sometime before finally returning. There is much muted everything, and also one spot that deserves special attention:

> "Ruth and Jaxom were not Weyr-trained. But don't think Ruth's going to get off easily for this escapade." He managed a droll grin. "Judging by the look on Jaxom's face, he's had a fright that he won't forget. That will inhibit Ruth far more surely than threats from you and me." He gave her one of his little shakes. "More important, the less furor there is right now, the fewer rumors will abound."  
>  Lessa let out a heavy sigh, glared at him, and then gave herself a shake, releasing herself from his grasp.

That's...not okay, Weyrleader. I'm sure we're supposed to see that as an affectionate gesture (a part I skipped over at the beginning had Lessa muse about how the Benden Weyrleader is amorous in the mornings), but the shaking was violent and abusive and intended to keep Lessa in line when we last saw it. That it is still there at all, and still frequent, makes all of the anger I had at him come flying back in an instant, and I would like to impose a headcanon that Lessa shakes him off because he's still an abusive prick (even though the narrative wants us to believe she loves him) instead of because of her irritation at Ruth's independence.

Now that the bridge's life support is sufficient, the AI intends to send up Piemur with Jaxom and Ruth so that Sallah's remains can be brought back and a funeral given for her. Piemur idly muses whether the space suit will be salvageable, before the silence in the room points out the faux pas, and then AIVAS steps on that enough to suggest that retrieving the suit was part of the plan all along. Nobody has a shudder at the machine suggesting this, though, and an extra fire lizard is requested to accompany them so that someone other than Farli understands how to get up into the spaceship. Redundancy is a beautiful thing.

Oh, and it's also minus 10 up there, which is either below freezing or very below freezing. Despite that, the AI believes its perfectly good for humans to go up and do something up there. And after only a little complaining about the cold, the two have an adventure getting used to microgravity and unloading the oxygen tanks that were strapped to Ruth, who is anchoring himself by wrapping his tail around something. Eventually, the two make it to their consoles to program the telescope arrays and check to make sure calculations are correct about the plan. After being transfixed by seeing the entire world from the perspective of the outside, that is. A shower of debris frightens Ruth and the lizards, but AIVAS pulls everyone back to task before they freeze up, which is now starting to have an effect on everyone present. Both Harper and Holder put in their programs and run them, go to put their oxygen tanks into the system, and then collect Sallah's body to go back.

There's also some speculation on the subject we've been wondering about for a long time - why Bitra Hold exists. Before the quoted part, Piemur says he'll give "Bitran odds" that the ship is colder than hyperspace. AIVAS corrects him immediately to indicate it isn't, but notes that they've been exposed to the cold a lot more on the ship.

> Jaxom tried to feel reverence for the personality that had once inhabited the frozen shell they were handling. Sallah Telgar had given her life to prevent the defector, Avril Bitra, from draining the Yokohama's fuel tanks in her bid to escape the Rukbat system. Sallah had even managed to repair the console Bitra had wrecked in her fury at being thwarted. Odd that a Hold had been named after such a woman, but then, Bitrans had always been an odd lot. Jaxom chided himself for such thoughts. There are some very honest, worthy Bitrans--a few, anyway--who were not given to gambling and the other forms of gaming that fascinated so many of that Hold. Lord Sigomal kept to himself, but that was far preferable to the late Lord Sifer's well-known unsavory appetites.

This would be a nice moment for show, rather than telling, but "Bitran" is an expletive, it seems, for people of vicious tastes. And yet, the Hold persists, and is known for their enthusiasm in gambling, a thing that is apparently frowned on in proper Pernese society (despite people as influential as the Masterharper engaging in it on the sly). There's no given reason why gambling is so frowned upon, given that there are no officially recognized religious practices on Pern nor any cultural reason to believe why it should be sanctioned in such a manner.

Perhaps Bitra Hold exists as the sanctioned unsanctioned space of Pern, where vice of all sorts is allowed to be openly on display, and discretion exercised about who comes to visit, so long as there are no threats to the society that originate from that knowledge. It would be interesting to learn that Bitra Hold has existed in several places over time, moving when the heat gets sufficiently large as to force the issue - or when troops come riding in to exterminate people with too much secret power.

Or maybe Bitra Hold exists only as a passphrase to enter the parts of other Holds that would contain vice. It would explain the pervasive prejudice and the continued existence of Bitra in the face of it. I don't know how they settled in that particular name, but maybe it's a happy coincidence.

In any case, Sallah is successfully transported home, removed from the suit, which is still usable with some minor repairs, and housed in a proper coffin, with Larad offered the opportunity to have a public funeral, which will have a full rendition of the Ballad of Sallah Telgar (currently a very popular story for gatherings). And all of this is conveniently timed to happen right before the Conclave of Holders, so that the pro-AI group can point to several marvels, including the retrieval of a worldwide hero, as reasons to sign on to the technological revolution at hand and accept the guidance of AIVAS. When accused of planning it all this way by Larad, Robinton has the good sense to look shocked about it, even though the AI most certainly did such a thing. Plans are made.

And there's this tidbit:

> Aivas remarked to Lytol that since someone would be expected to wear that suit, it was fortunate indeed that superstition was not a facet of Pernese culture. Lytol disagreed. He and Aivas immediately became involved in a discussion of primitive religions and arcane beliefs, so that Robinton was just as glad that he was free to leave for Telgar Weyr with F'lar. The Harper wondered fleetingly if he would have done better to have stayed to listen to what was certain to be a fascinating debate; but he was deriving too much satisfaction in being the bearer of such remarkable tidings.

"Ah, look at the possibility of worldbuilding and having to justify ourselves! Time to escape to some other location so we don't have to provide details!" Because I would like to hear that argument very much, thank you. I think that the narrative wouldn't let Lytol win, but I suspect his position is a lot stronger than we're supposed to believe. Lytol, after all, has been on both sides of the Cult of Dragonriders, and so probably knows better than most about superstition.

_[Lytol is right, even if he's trying to fight the collected arguments of the Internet by himself. The superstitions involving surgery will be one of the major ones to show up, but on principle, Lytol is right. Humans are pattern-seeking creatures, and we believe our own conclusions about patterns, even if those conclusions are scientifically proven invalid. Superstition, folklore, folk magic, cult practices, all of them were bound to develop on Pern, everywhere, and probably cheek-to-jowl with the Official Canon of the Harpers. (And even more in places that refuse the Harpers, who we will meet in a later book.) Supersititons abound on Pern, but we haven't been hearing them referred to as such because superstition is almost always used as a pejorative from the elites to the commoners, and there haven't been enough commoners around to look down upon. Nor have we ever been in earshot to hear what the rumors about, say, dragonrider sexual practice might be. So, good for Lytol to try and correct AIVAS._

_Of course, it might have also been a ruse by AIVAS to get Lytol to catalogue all the superstitions he could think of and to explain them to the AI, enhancing its databanks and giving it new vectors to use to manipulate the populace by playing on their superstitions.]_

That makes this chapter a wrap. Maybe next chapter, someone will sit down and explain what has happened in the interim?


	8. Free Falling

Last chapter, we were denied actually seeing what happened with the rapid reintroduction of industrial age technology to a pastoral and vassalage feudal system, and instead thrown forward to the point in time where dragons and fire lizards went back to the spaceship, bringing back the corpse of Sallah Telgar, preserved sufficiently well in the vacuum and the cold to be transported back. A funeral and public burial is the works...

**All the Weyrs of Pern: Chapter 8: Content Notes: None**

...but we don't get to see it immediately. Instead, we are treated to Jaxom and Ruth getting used to microgravity, Jaxom wearing the space suit that Sallah still had. Jaxom is tasked with finding the overrides for the cargo bay doors to see if they can be closed. Jaxom gets to the cargo bay, narrating his way down according to AIVAS's instructions, and then comes face to face with the void and is talked through getting to the cargo bay console with emergency lights. Jaxom is able to use the manual override, although he uses too much force and almost throws himself into the air. Eventually, though, the doors do close and the mission finishes.

We shift over to AIVAS briefing the Power Trio on just how wobbly the wanderer is, noting a variance of nearly ten years from the fifty year default depending on the pass, and that the long intervals were...something. AIVAS calculates that the Ninth Pass will finish three years early, which is good news, and indicates that the time is right to start sending green dragons and their riders up to get used to microgravity. In pairs. Robinton praises AIVAS's ability to manipulate people [(!)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P5qbcRAXVk), a thing that AIVAS dismisses as just knowing personalities.

The next missions involving the Yokohama involve getting the oxygen-producing algae back up and running, and seeing if some bronze dragons can go out and collect some samples of non-activated Thread. Which produces a pretty big boggle from the assembled, until the AI tells them about the fact that Thread is only dangerous when in an environment that lets it be destructive. Even then, they're not sure about it, even though the AI tells them it's an essential item. Pressed for details about the plan, AIVAS deflects with an analogy about how beginners shouldn't be expected to perform masterful music. The talk turns to the Conclave in a couple days and how the Lords might have a spirited debate about whether or not they give Landing and the AI their blessing.

Then comes the public funeral and ceremony for Sallah, brought in by dragons, borne by Holders, accompanied by a formation of fire lizards, and sealed in by Crafters (and then the accompanying music for the feast by Harpers). We don't get to see it, though, because Jaxom appears at Robinton's side to inform him of an attempt to attack AIVAS, taking advantage of the reality that everyone is at the funeral. Heading back to Landing, Robinton sees the aftermath, with plenty of bruised heads on both defenders and attackers and the knowledge that the AI can defend itself if needed, since it used a sonic barrage to knock the attackers out. _[And, as we'll find out, to cause hearing damage to them such that they should be permanently deafened. One of them will get his hearing back so he can be an antagonist in a later book, but the rest are completely bereft of their hearing.]_ Piemur has his bloodthirsty grin on again, as he notes one of the attackers has all the scars of being a glass-smith, and assumes everyone came from Norist as a result. As new information comes in, including that the raiders had expensive mounts, and there's more than a few Crafts involved in this particular incident (or at least more than a few Craftmasters). The arrival of dragons means protection for the AI and dialogue between Robinton and Lytol, where Lytol explains to Robinton that if he had studied history a bit more, he would have been better prepared for the cultural upheaval underway. Robinton doesn't want to believe in Lytol's cynicism as the right way, preferring his own optimism that technology will provide the way. Piemur backs Robinton's optimism as a good idea.

Identification of the thugs produces a couple of Bitrans, used to dismiss all Bitrans as mercenaries that will do anything for money, but won't give up or give in and stay loyal to whomever bought them. There's a fisher in the group, identified by the net damage. The beasts and their equipment provide no help at all as to their origins. They are eventually shipped off to the mines of Crom for punishment. (Wait, penal mines? How long has this been the case? Have there ever been revolts?)

Otherwise disappointed, Jayge asks for an interview with AIVAS to talk about dolphins. The AI confirms that dolphins can talk to humans, but notes that both Pernese and dolphins would have to adjust their language to be intelligible to each other, and suggests young Readis be trained in dolphin. Jayge suggests that more kids learn dolphin as a way of keeping quiet about the intelligence of the species, which would really upset several of the humans to find out they're not the smartest creatures on the planet.

Then again, several of the rumors in circulation about the hostile nature of AIVAS (including one where it becomes Skynet and will produce a colony drop to destroy the world) and how well protected it is suggests that there's plenty of creativity, if not intelligence, at work in the rumor mill. Ultimately, the chapter comes to a close without any of the world-shaking consequences that have been hinted at or glossed over in the previous chapters, making this one a bit of a breather, even though there was the aftermath of an attack that had to be dealt with. Because everyone in the viewpoint always seems to be just behind the action these days, when that action is fighting, rather than in the thick of it, like in the earlier novels. Perhaps it's because we're working primarily with Jaxom, who people wouldn't try to hurt, and Robinton, who is, well, getting too old for this shit.

Next chapter, perhaps, there will be more, as we are now set up for the Conclave of Holders, who have a lot to discuss.


	9. Magic At The Gathering

Last chapter, dolphin language went on the agenda, AIVAS demonstrated it could take care of itself, and the preparations to make the spacecraft a suitable base of space operations continued. Sallah Telgar was buried, and everything got situated for a meeting of the Lords Holder that looks to have a big set of debates on the agenda.

**All the Weyrs of Pern: Chapter 9: Content Notes: Sexism, Patriarchy, Randian Paradise**

The beginning of the chapter is a sweep over Tillek Hold, site of the Conclave, including the new harbor that Ranrel has put into place that can apparently easily handle the increased sea traffic, even as the ability for passengers to get off their boats is tested through needing to put as many small craft to work as possible.

We find out that Sharra is due up to the Yokohama, to work with Mirrim on getting the algae gardens started again, so that atmosphere can be pumped into the cargo bay and the rest of the ship, before there is a digression into all the new color and fashion on display, all sourced in one way or another from the AI through Master Weaver Zurg. Except Jaxom, who is wearing drab colors in last season's fashion.

Politics is certainly underway before the Conclave between Jaxom and Sharra:

> As it is, it's just too bad the Craftmasters can't vote on the succession."  
>  "They should, you know," Jaxom replied. "They're as vital to the smooth management of Pern as any Lord Holder."  
>  "Ssh," Sharra said, though her eyes twinkled at his heresy. "You upset sufficient Lord Holders without suggesting **that** innovation."  
>  "It'll come! It'll come," Jaxom said. "Once the conservative element among the Holders are replaced."

And Jaxom would be the person for it, having been the Holder-rider hybrid, backed by the dragons. I don't know if this is maturity or proximity to the AI that has brought this idea forth for Jaxom, but if the industrial revolution continues on Terran paths, soon enough the Crafts will buy into the aristocracy and then eventually dismantle it completely. Lytol might be the only person that knows that, though. Otherwise, it's a good idea if you want a more democratic aristocracy.

Speaking of Lytol, the narrative shifts away from Jaxom and Sharra as they go mingle, to where Lytol is keeping Robinton on a short leash as they discuss the likely votes, and Robinton breaches the same idea of Craft involvement to Lytol, who grunts instead of his usual caustic denial. Robinton wonders if its Jaxom's influence, of course, but I'm guessing it's AIVAS.

Robinton pulls over Jaxom and Sharra, talks about the great fashion on display everywhere, dropping the fact that Lytol used to also be a weaver (what hasn't he done?) and Sharra complaints about Jaxom's dress. Robinton takes the opportunity to make a dirty joke.

> "I'd chosen such a beautiful fabric, one of the new brocades in marvelous dark blue-green, and he never managed a single fitting."  
>  "I fear he fit in other things," Robinton replied, unable to forgo the wordplay.  
>  "Oh, you!" Sharra rolled her eyes dramatically, laughing.  
>  A singularly lovely ripple of laughter, Robinton thought, grinning back at her. Zair, perched on the Harper's shoulder, chirped agreement.

Okay, maybe it's not a dirty joke, but it sure reads like one. And I'm also wondering whether to read that laugh as the kind of polite laugh one gives to someone who thinks they are funny, but aren't, but also might cause you physical or societal harm if you don't laugh. Because Robinton certainly can, and I wonder if he's taking advantage of that. Who is going to call him out for such a thing, since he's a beloved patriarch and far more likely to be believed than her?

(Just how many of the paying students at the Harper Hall have stories of Harpers, or even Robinton, doing inappropriate things to them?)

_[For the record, this post was originally made before what would be collectively known as[the Me Too movement](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Me_Too_movement) exploded into the popular consciousness through the Harvey Weinstein allegations, but well after the term was coined and after the deliberate troll and shaming behaviors directed at others who pointed out in unapologetic terms the rampant sexism and misogyny in many a fandom, as well as allegations being passed around whisper networks to help try and keep women safe from predatory people in their industry who were definitely creeps, but couldn't be called to account because they were too powerful or had the industry on their side and willing to forgive them or demean their accusers to the point where they would have had to choose an entirely new career in a field very far away from the influence of that person. Robinton could very well be a [Missing Stair](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missing_stair) in the Harper Hall, along with several of the other staff, since there's really no check on their behavior. Not that the author of the work would contemplate that possibility at all, since Robinton was based upon a person she knew and was friends with, but given the way that Pern is set up as a place that only seems to have laws when the narrative wants someone to get punished, and that has a lot of very convenient excuses for bad behavior in the form of dragons, I can't imagine Pern as being a good place for anyone who isn't a dude at the very top of their political power heap.]_

Then the doors close, the kitchen opens with refreshments, and the wait begins...

...for those not blessed by the narrative, that is, which jumps to Jaxom inside after detailing the briefing he received the night before where everyone warned him against getting provoked when the anti-AIVAS slurs come out. Jaxom is impatient for the old guard to get out of the way to embrace the new ideas coming through, but promises he'll behave.

The Lords seat themselves in blocks depending on who they are supporting for the question of succession, and Groghe asks Jaxom's opinion on Toric's vote, which Jaxom says is basically going to be "against Ranrel" because Toric is pissed off at Hamian, Jaxom, and the dragonriders, who he considers all to have betrayed him in one way or another. Groghe thinks Toric is making too much of it, and Jaxom shrugs and says, essentially, that Denol has no legal ground for his claim.

> "You tell him, then, Lord Groghe. As I understand the tradition of Holding, he doesn't lose the island, no matter who's improving it--it remains incontrovertibly his as part of his Hold grant. No one can usurp his title to it. Especially not someone like Denol."  
>  Groghe swiveled in his chair to face with some astonishment at Jaxom. "Are you sure of that? I mean, about the Holding? That no one can supersede his claim?"  
>  "Of course I am," Jaxom grinned slyly. "That sort of irrevocable grant is mentioned in the settlers' Charter. And remarkably enough, Pern still operates, and enforces, the rules and restrictions of that Charter, even if half the world doesn't know it. So, once given, a grant can't be rescinded. It can't even be ceded out of the Bloodline of the original grantee. When the last of the Bloodline dies, challenge decides the new Holder."  
>  Groghe smiled grimly at that reminder of how F'lar and Fax had dueled to make Jaxom the heir to Ruatha Hold.

_[It's a cocowhat!]_

I want to see that Charter, _now_ , for several reasons. Most trivially, at this point, I want to see the rules of inheritance. If Jaxom is speaking the truth, and the charter doesn't have anything like "land passes to the oldest son" and is more like "passes to a child of the Bloodline", then _Lessa, Nerilka, and Thella all had valid claims on their Holds_. Yes, a patriarchal feudal system that insists that "no penis, no power" stopped all of them from being able to pursue those claims, but their claims are valid. Imagine the potential cultural revolution when every daughter is equally as eligible for her home Hold and whatever Hold she marries into. And since two of the three women had better claims of primacy than Jaxom (Bloodline, but baby), and Larad (younger brother to Thella), those Holds could have been under their direction the entire time. It would have made Lessa a much more formidable power in the world as both a Weyrleader and a Holder. And Thella might have been a better administrator than Larad and made things even more prosperous, if much crueler.

Second, this idea basically would null Fax as any sort of legitimate anything, so long as there was a surviving member who could trace their Bloodline back to the Ruathan one. Again, Fax murders a lot of people and conquers others, but once he's dead, his name should have been scrubbed from the records and his descendants revoked out of anything he had, unless they continued carving the bloody swath. The Bloodlines at this point have presumably had sufficient time to mix and dilute that just about anyone could make a claim to being of that Blood. (Presumably, there are rules that prevent "one drop" claims, but still...)

Most importantly, though, _who gives irrevocable land grants in perpetuity that survive until every last member of your extended family in every generation is dead_? It's like the charterers were setting themselves up for the problem of "too many people, not enough land" in the pastoral society they envisioned. And with no way off planet, either, so no method of bleeding off pressure by sending out colony ships to nearby habitable zones. Were they imagining that the low tech work would keep the birth rate down? Or that they would keep sufficient tech to maintain excellent birth control?

They basically said:

Ugh.

Ah, but wait, there's more.

> "Toric was awarded those specific Southern lands in compensation for Holding during the [time-skipped's] incumbency of Southern Weyr," Jaxom went on. "If you'll remember, the Big Island is within the borders of that grant. No act of Denol's can alter Toric's title to the Island."  
>  "Even if Toric's not put his own holders there?"  
>  Jaxom grinned. "When Denol first came South, he agreed to hold for Toric. He can't disavow that. I'm sure he thought that because others had been granted the right to hold in their own names, he could simply cross the water and claim the Big Island. It doesn't work that way."  
>  [...Groghe seems impressed...]  
>  "Meantime, Denol's been improving the place with every cot and shed he's built, every crop he's planted. In fact," Jaxom said with a slightly wicked grin, "if Toric gave Idarolan the word, Denol's marketable goods could be collected and sold north, and the profit credited to Toric!"  
>  "Well, that would solve that problem, surely."  
>  'Yes, but Toric's not listening, and certainly not reading any messages from Landing," Jaxom said ruefully.

_[And another cocowhat!]_

So, not only does the land grant last forever and can't be revoked, anyone who sets up shop inside that border is immediately a full vassal to that person and can have all their goods seized and sold on the say-so of their landlord.

How many Lords Holder and other landlords have been "accidentally" locked outside during Threadfall again? With their families and every known member of their Bloodline? Because if that's the only way to break up a Hold and make the land available again, it's going to be murder to be an aristocrat in this society. Presumably, both Holds and Weyrs are supposed to take only what they are allotted by contract, but it wouldn't take much for the characters with the military power to decide to abuse that a bit, like someone grabbing a jeweled knife meant for someone else and saying "tough, it's mine, unless you want to fight me for it." Or a lot, like Jaxom is suggesting (and Groghe is totally on board with).

This society needs Thread as population control, and also needs Thread to force the issue of how to actually live together on a planet with finite size and resources. Ugh.

Jaxom and Groghe return to who is likely to back whom in the election, with the oldest (Blesserel) basically getting Bitra's support because he's so far in hock to them that any other ascendance would mean a default on the debt, and some ready to back the middle son (Terentel) because they don't like the oldest and don't want to support Remerel (and by proxy, AIVAS). There's some questioning from Larad about whether or not Sallah looked human in death, but Lytol calls the Conclave to order before Jaxom has to lie too much about what he saw.

Lytol is chosen to chair the meeting, even though he has a vote out of respect from the Lords Holder for his job as being Warder to Ruatha. After pointing out the ancientness of their process to stop snark from many sides, he calls a first vote, which is _conducted in secret ballot with ink pens and tearaway pads_. Are those quill pens or ballpoints or some other style? I'd love to know, I really would, because it would help me figure out just how much technology has advanced in the last two years. Obviously there had always been copying methods and ink, but Jaxom comments that everyone at the table is using "new products" to exercise their franchise, suggesting these pens are a cut above your standard quill.

Lytol shuffles the votes as they arrive, so as to preserve the secrecy of their originators, then opens and sorts them before announcing a split vote. The debate proceeds from there, with advocates for the first two sons to speak before a second ballot is cast - Ranrel just edges out Blesserel, but there is still one vote for Terentel. Groghe and Larad advocate for Ranrel as the only one who has both done honest work and that took interest in the running of the place while Oterel was dying. Sigomal and Sangel attempt to undercut the position, and Asgenar speaks for Ranrel to reinforce the good points. Toric jumps order to claim that Ranrel was expelled from the Hold, an expulsion Bargen says was retracted. Lytol puts the qibosh on that line of debate by pointing to the appropriate precedent:

> "And the right of any male descendant to challenge the succession, no matter what bad feeling existed between father and son, has been upheld on numerous occasions."

...yay, patriarchy. Way to exclude your competent administrators from holding actual power. But it's not part of the charter, just precedent that it's only sons.

Groghe needles Toric about father-son relationships, and a third vote is cast after nobody stands for Terentel. Ten for Ranrel. Lytol calls a recess to let the politicking happen, and while Jaxom stays out of any discussion, Groghe, Larad, and Asgenar go to work on the other candidates, telling Toric about his actual rights as Holder and discussing things with others. When back in session, another vote is called and Ranrel wins.

That matter settled, Jaxom updates everyone on the progress of the Plan, fields hostility, invites anyone who wants to go up into the Yokohama to see the planet for themselves, and promotes the increase in general welfare as proof that they're going in the right direction.

> Lytol held up the pad, the ink pen, and a sheet of the weather reports that Aivas had been producing for the past two Turns to the delight and relief of holders, major and minor. Then he pointed to the ornate clock on the wall, ticking away the minutes of the meeting, and to the new clothing in which Begamon was dressed, made from one of Master Zurg's latest fine fabrics.  
>  "I've also heard that you've new power to irrigate your fields and portable stoves to heat your orchards during frosts," Lytol replied. "Not to mention the fact that your youngest granddaughter owes her life to Master Oldive's new surgical techniques."  
>  "They're things we can use, see, touch, Lytol." Begamon waved his hand over his head. "Not something beyond our reach and our ken."

Boy, that prohibition against surgery disappeared in a hurry, didn't it? Presumably its effectiveness went way up with access to good technique, but it's a bit odd that a deeply-held taboo disappeared, and yet there are some who are stubbornly holding out against the AI. A great example pops right up in Lytol's next announcement, that the Craftmasters, save Norist, are in agreement on the construction of two new Halls - the Printers, loosely allied with the Harpers, to be housed in Landing, Ruatha, and Lemos (for better synch with Bendarek's papercrafting), and the Technicians, loosely allied with the Smiths,

> "I'll say no to that one immediately," Sigomal said, jumping to his feet. "That's catering to the Abomination and--"  
>  "There will be no vulgar epithets at this table, Lord Sigomal," Lytol said at his most censorious. "Nor should I have to repeat that the Mastercraftsmen have no need of your permission. You have only to abstain from the purchase of any materials produced by a Crafthall which distresses you. Since it comes to my notice that certain projects of yours have benefited from new gadgetry of which only Aivas could be the source, you would be wiser to refrain from uttering such arrant hypocrisies in the Council."  
>  Gaping, Sigomal sank back.  
>  [...Jaxom notes that this is the first time Sigomal has professed an allegiance on the matter...]  
>  "We will be duly informed when the new Mastercraftsmen are chosen and the parameters of their professional spheres decided. Let me further remind the Lord Holders that such additions to the Crafthalls require no ratification by this Council since the Halls have, by long custom, been autonomous. This is a formal notification of intent."

But of course, the Lords are over a barrel and they know it - unless they want to only purchase unstamped goods of questionable quality with no warranty or support should they fail, or employ only those that have been dismissed from the official Halls, which would probably involve censure if discovered officially.

_[If anyone is thinking this line all the way through, as I suspect Lytol might, they would notice that the writing is on the wall for the feudal arrangement. Especially once there's no longer Thread to cow everyone into submission and give their power over, the best that the Lords can hope for is that their vassals pay their rents promptly. At some point, though, they'll be the last vestiges of something old and vaguely remembered, before the Crafts came and took over, since they're the ones who can actually produce goods and have the advanced techniques that make everything go. The dragonriders will go off to retirement to live out their lives and laze about, before their descendants decide to pick up a profession or two, and then the Lords will be squeezed out entirely between the dragonriders and the crafters.]_

There's bitching about why more Crafthalls are needed (because everyone is overworked with demand), whether this is a Charter thing (it's not, but it came about in the First Pass), and a reminder that Sebell and Fandarel sought the opinion of their peers when they didn't have to, leading to bitching about how if Norist didn't assent, it's not really unanimity. Then more about his this is all very sudden and fast, and that soon enough, machine parts will be rusting everywhere...

> And probably the Weyrs, too, since this is all their fault."  
>  "Lord Corman!" Trembling with outrage, Jaxom wrenched his arm from Groghe's grip and sprang to his feet, his fists clenched. "You may not disparage the Weyrs in my presence!"  
>  He was only barely aware that Lord Groghe had risen beside him and clamped both hands on his left arm, while Asgenar, also on his feet, was restraining him on the other side. Larad was loud in his protest, as were Toronas, Deckter, Warbret, Bargen, and to Jaxom's immense surprise, Toric.  
>  "Lord Corman, you will immediately apologize to this Council for that remark!" Lytol roared.  
>  With ten Lord Holders on their feet in protest, Corman had no option but to apologize. When he mumbled a phrase, Lytol icily demanded that he speak loud enough to be heard. Then Lytol stared at each of the standing Lord Holders until they sank back into their chairs.

...you were saying something about a lack of superstitions, AIVAS? Where someone laying blame where it can accurately be laid is immediately shouted down and required to apologize because it insults the Weyrs?

Lytol swears the Holders to silence in the matter, asks for a vote on encouraging the new halls, gets enough yeas, explains how the new Halls will be built and staffed, deals with more bitching, and then asks for any other business. Toric asks who gets to be Lord Holder of Landing, and has the joint administration explained to him, asks how much ground that actually covers, is told, and then sinks back into his chair.

Lytol wisely adjourns the meeting, and then delivers the news to Ranrel of his ascension. Jaxom heads to Robinton and delivers his report about what happened and who the difficult Lords are, which confirms what Sebell is hearing as well. Sigomal, Sangel, Nessel, and Begamon. Robinton is happy to have identified the dissenters, but Jaxom isn't sure. He takes comfort in knowing that the "dissenters are few in number, and all of them old." And thus, the chapter ends.

Frankly, for a first look inside the Conclave, it's rather parliamentarian. As if it were a House of Lords instead of a house of lords. Perhaps it is Lytol riding herd on them, but I would have expected a lot more petty things to come through and a certain stubbornness to set in, but apparently when someone they mostly respect is in charge, things go smoothly. And hey, no knife fights!

...and so the point of the chapter was to elect Ranrel and show us the inner workings of a rather polite Conclave. I got a lot out of it because of the Charter point, but a reader who's here for the plot might wonder what the point was. Maybe something that required the presence of these characters will happen next chapter.


	10. Struggling For Understanding

Last chapter, more technology porn and a polite meeting of the Holders, where we found out that the Charter of Pern is boggling in the way it sets the world up for giant conflict later on. There's still feasting and dancing to be had, though, so we're going to stick with this setting...

**All the Weyrs of Pern: Chapter 10: Content Notes: Patriarchy**

...and start with how much Master Idarolan got drunk over the stress of the election. Classy. It does tell us that there was a backup plan to move the Fishercraft Hall all the way down to Monaco Bay if Ranrel hadn't been elected, but otherwise it's basically Jaxom and Sebell helping Idarolan avoid pissing himself by taking him to "the nearest head" (a fine nautical term for Tillek Hold) and then trying to sober him up after he passes out soon afterward. With Sebell gone, Jaxom ducks into the stall with Idarolan when more people enter the head.

For his trouble, he overhears a plot to kill him while he's up in space and put Pell, one of Barla's sons, in charge at Ruatha.

That's Barla, as in mother of Aramina and mother-in-law to Jayge. I wonder what the opinions of those three would be with regard to such a plot.

Jaxom doesn't see the three plotters, and neither does Sebell, so we skip ahead past the festivities for Jaxom to go home and fly Thread with Ruth. And learn the name of his second son, Shawan. Before going off to fight, Jaxom confides in Brand, the steward, about what he heard at Tillek, and Brand points out that not only would they have to deal with Jaxom's sons, but F'lessan's as well, since Lessa also has a birthright claim on the place. (He refers to it as a deferral, rather than what it actually was.)

Then there is Threadfall, described again with new reverence from Jaxom now that he knows more about the history of the dragons. (And a lot of "ancient" and "age-old".)

And one tiny accident where a flying strap nearly breaks in the middle of a sharp turn. Jaxom takes the tongue-lashing in good humor after he determines it's not sabotage, and cuts himself new straps that night.

Then it's on to Landing to take Sharra up into space. Mirrim is excited.

> As soon as they entered the Aivas building, Mirrim, who had been chatting with D'ram, ran to greet them.  
>  "I'm ready when you are," she announced.  
>  "Easy, girl!" Jaxom laughed. Her association with T'gellan had calmed her considerably, but she still tended to become overzealous in her enthusiasms. Not necessarily a bad trait, Jaxom realized, but it could be wearing on her companions.

Not necessarily a bad trait, the author realized, after having had Jaxom make fun of Mirrim's enthusiasm and the assertion that having a man in her life has made Mirrim much more bearable to everyone. Have we had any suggestions of how T'gellan handles his weyrmate? The Benden School that we've seen so far isn't one I'd want to have replicated worldwide.

Preparations continue, with the AI briefing Jaxom about the tasks at hand for this trip. Once that is done and the dragons are getting loaded, Jaxom gets fed up with Mirrim adjusting and readjusting the burden on Path.

> "You're wasting time, Mirrim," Jaxom said finally, when she insisted on padding the knots across Path's back. "The load sits fine and we're not flying straight, you know." Privately he wondered if Mirrim was covering up a case of nerves. Sharra was composed enough, and so was S'len, though his face was flushed with excitement.  
>  "I just don't want them shifting," Mirrim replied stiffly.

Oh, Mirrim. _We_ understand that you're struggling against a patriarchy that insists women are useless except as a babymaker and possibly, domestic servant. And that you're an Exceptional Woman among the dragonriders, so [you're suffering under extra scrutiny for everything that you do and everything that happens will be taken as representative of your entire gender](https://xkcd.com/385/). Jaxom doesn't fully get it, since he's had the silver spoon since birth. So yes, there's nerves there, but the burden on Path is only the surface item of a much deeper set of nerves.

There's some useful information about draconic capabilities, although AIVAS is still having difficulty with the inability to use telekinetic abilities.

> For instance, how much weight could a dragon carry? For which the answer was: your much weight did a dragon **think** he could carry? An answer Aivas found specious--and certainly not helpful when what was needed was hard numbers.  
>  Then there was the question, How do dragons know where to go? "Their riders tell them," did nothing to explain the actual process to Aivas. While Aivas did accept teleportation, it could not understand why telekinesis was so impossible a concept to explain to the dragons and the fire-lizards. Especially when Ruth had indeed understood what Farli had not: to go to the Yokohama.  
>  In checking the details of this joint trip to the spaceship, Jaxom had asked Ruth if he could carry two riders, as well as two padded barrels, one of pure water and one of carbonated water. Ruth's reply had been affirmative although, as Aivas saw the load, it was more than the dragon's slight frame ought to be able to bear.

So dragons can violate physics by being able to carry more than what their frame should be able to, and instinctively know how to traverse hyperspace to a picture in their minds. But they don't understand how to move things with their mental powers.

_[Yet. In a later book, a green dragon will redevelop the knack, causing great consternation that the least among dragons has figured out the final secret of what the dragons were supposed to have.]_

Anyone asking about the science behind the dragons, in other words, is going to get nowhere. (Not that it would ever stop the determined fans of the series and their fanwork capabilities to try and make it work anyway.) I saw speculation on a wiki, I believe, or the fansite that I'm taking the reading order from that the dragons do have telekinesis, but it's a field they exert on themselves and whatever they're carrying, with the mental powers kicking in whatever additional lift is needed to pick up even things that should be impossible to physically lift. But because that field is instinctual, instead of learned, the dragons lack the ability to understand it and project it. Thus, no telekinesis and no way of pulling objects through the void to them instead of pulling themselves through the void. It's as good an explanation as any without any actual data, which is in perennially short supply for a series that is trying to reinvent itself as a science fiction story.

There is the transfer to space, and the "it's bigger on the inside" moment of witnessing Pernrise and then Mirrim unstraps Path a little too forcefully and pushes herself up to the ceiling. "Mirrim had been too startled to cry out; also, she had no great wish to show to disadvantage." says the narrative, still pointing out the extra weight Mirrim is suffering under without acknowledging the cause of it.

The riders get to watch the planet on the viewscreens, and then S'len pops over to a different ship, the Bahrain, to help get it ready as well with oxygen and algae, while Mirrim and Sharra take care of the Yokohama. Jaxom reorients the telescopes and gives AIVAS more data about the skies. Once the Yokohama is done, Mirrim and Sharra shift over on Path to the Buenos Aires to do that ship as well. With algae in place, everyone goes back to Landing, where there is a lesson in bacteria and antibiotics waiting for them, to be delivered to them, from Oldive and Brekke, described incredibly improperly as "introverted". There is now an ultrasound machine from Fandarel and petri dishes and microscopes from Morilton. The lesson is actually on how to turn the various components of bacteria against each other so to defeat them without antibiotics. But before we get too far into the weeds, the chapter ends.

There's a lot of possible plots warping by in our focus on the end result of the Plan. The plot against Jaxom would be a good one, as might the formation of the new Halls discussed in the last chapter. There's a lot going on which might provide worldbuilding or a clearer picture of what is going on in relation to the industrial revolution underway, but no, we're resolutely zipping past those things because the March of Progress can't be stopped and shouldn't be stopped.

I wonder what we'll blow past in the next chapter.


	11. And Colon Semi-Colon, Too!

Last chapter revealed a plot against Jaxom, that Mirrim is being held to a much higher standard than any of the other men around her (and that Jaxom thinks having a man in her life is good for her), and that the Plan, whatever it may be, will need all three of the colony spaceships to be operational.

**All the Weyrs of Pern: Chapter 11: Content Notes: Patriarchal Double-Standards**

Present Pass 20. We've time-jumped again. Despite still being in the middle of a furious cultural and technological revolution, since the goal was laid out at the beginning of the book that an attempt at permanent erasure of Thread, we're charging ahead to get there by the end, sprinting by books worth of material in our haste.

We start on a Hatching, where the Benden Weyrleaders are musing that it's nice so many people want to be dragonriders, with the temptation of Landing so close by. Benelek has been elected the first Mastertechnician, and Groghe is wearing insulating boots that make "The Dance of The Hatching Ground Sands" a thing of the past. They'll be standard issue for dragonriders and everyone else, because they also protect against the cold of hyperspace, thanks to plant fibers embedded in the boots that protect against both extremes.

There's going to be a new Weyr constructed, because all eight are currently at capacity and dragons are still laying, including Ramoth, who has laid thirty-five eggs, one of which is a queen egg. It will be in the South, preferably equidistant between Southern and Eastern Weyrs.

Lessa reflects on everything the Benden Weyrleaders have done these past few years...

> Lessa experienced a flush of pride for what had been achieved by over the past Turns by an ex-drudge from Ruatha Hold and the bronze Benden rider whom noone had wanted to believe.

...and sells herself incredibly short. Just last chapter we were reminded that Lessa has better claim to Ruatha than Jaxom does, so having Lessa describe herself as an "ex-drudge" is very revisionist, trying to make her into more of a Cinderella story of humble beginnings to grand power. Lessa went into hiding because of Fax, and then stepped out once Fax was dead to try and reclaim her Hold. That's more Fa Mulan, not Belle or Cinderella. And it also very strongly minimizes Lessa in the equation, since being a bronze rider already afforded the Benden Weyrleader large amounts of privilege to act (and take credit for) everything that's happened. Lessa is being recast in the Exceptional Woman role that she had previously been able to avoid precisely because she wasn't an ex-drudge raised up to the heights, but an aristocrat forcibly recruited and partnered by the Benden Weyrleader so that she wouldn't go overturning the social order with her psychic powers and strong will. Which, you know, is a theme.

  * Lessa can't because she's too powerful.
  * Kylara couldn't because she was too sexual with those below her station.
  * Avril couldn't because she was too much a caricature of a real person.
  * Mirrim can't because she's trying too hard to be a guy.
  * Jancis can't, because nobody will take her seriously.
  * Thella couldn't, ostensibly because she's too cruel to be effective.
  * Menolly can't because she's got arbitrary restrictions to access and gatekeeping imposed on her.
  * Brekke can't, because she lacks the dragons she would need for everyone to take her seriously.



The general gist of all these Exceptional Women is that they could be effective at changing everything, except that their society reacts incredibly violently to the idea of women holding any kind of power over men. Lessa was and is beaten and shaken, T'gellan is doing something to keep Mirrim in check, Kylara was permanently mindscarred by Brekke, through Wirenth, Avril was defeated by Sallah, Thella was hunted and eventually lost to Jayge on trying to capture Aramina, Jancis has the rest of the Crafthalls to contend with, even if she has powerful allies in Fandarel and Piemur, and unfettered Menolly was immediately censured and then physically maimed to stop her from using her talent before having to run a patriarchal gauntlet that she probably wouldn't have made it through were it not for Robinton insisting she should. It's a pattern where women are given incredible potential to change the world and then told they either can't use it or can only use it in approved ways at the direction of men higher ranked than they are, one of whom they will likely be required to fall in love with or graciously accept the love of. This is a failure of storytelling, and I have to wonder whether there is some sort of editorial interference being run on these stories, under the discredited theory (even for then) that nobody wants to read books about strong women protagonists.

Back swirl bang hash mark question mark swirl bang.

Lessa also notices the graying of the Benden Weyrleader's hair and wonders if it might be time to retire to Landing themselves, but dismissing the possibility until Thread is gone forever. F'lessan is part of team AI, and Tagetarl is the first Masterprinter to complement Bendarek as papersmith. Lessa looks for Robinton and D'ram, and wonders why those old men took to the new world so readily when others resist it so fiercely. Because _retired_ Warder Lytol, _retired_ Weyrleader D'ram, and _retired_ Masterharper Robinton must have some inner quality that makes them superior to _current_ Lords Sangel, Corman, Nessel, and Begamon and _current_ Masterglass-smith Norist. Couldn't tell you what it was, though, clearly.

The Hatching begins, and Lessa runs down the candidates for the queen egg...

> Cona was Neratian, and Manora had reported that in the sevenday that the girl had been at Benden Weyr, she had already been in the weyrs of three bronze riders. That was not a bad trait in a queen's rider; it was certainly preferable to a lack of sensuality.

_[There's your cocowhat.]_

Kylara disagrees with you, Lessa. Unless your only problem with her was that she slept below her station, which is still highly problematic for someone billing themselves as an ex-drudge only a few paragraphs earlier to espouse.

Lessa mentally goes over how the new Weyrleaders for the Ninth Weyr will be selected, and then settles in to watch the hatching, including the queen egg, Amaranth, which goes to the oldest candidate, Breda. Ramoth remarks that this one is likely to be a handful, as a "true daughter" of hers. We also find out that Breda is an orphan, raised by her Crafthall and otherwise without options for going out of her Hold. After the new candidates are at to their tasks, the Weyrleaders go to comfort the candidates that didn't Impress. Unfortunately, that's all we get to know about what happens to them (along with Lessa noting that Cona is nowhere to be seen, and settling on the idea that is probably for the best for Cona to get consolation in her own way) because Robinton waylays them and asks about why F'lessan is scouting land (not that's he's asking because he doesn't know), treating us to this charming example of a double standard:

> With three sons by as many weyrgirls, F'lessan had need to be absent from from their entreaties. He had provided well for each of his children, but he was no more ready to settle down with one than any young, handsome, and popular bronze rider. Manora had even suggested that the absence of that young charmer for a while might result in one or more of the girls settling for an older rider in a more stable, lasting attachment.

So it's totally okay for a rider to impregnate someone and not form a lasting attachment to them, then? And it's a good idea for a potential queen rider to be sleeping with the bronze riders? But sleeping with a Lord Holder as a queen rider is right out, and if you choose to have that bronze rider's kid, you'd better not go asking him for any sort of support for child-rearing. Boys will be boys, and popular jocks, err, riders, can't possibly be expected to settle during their wild phase. And if those girls get insistent, we'll encourage the older riders to have a turn with them and attach to them for the support they want.

Sounds like what would have been the Jaxom-Corana arrangement, so at least it's consistent. And what would make Lessa and Manora's attitudes more...understandable, I suppose, is if there were a little bit in there about how those pregnancies were during mating flights, when everybody is all horny beyond control, but it's not, and so the image I'm getting of F'lessan is that he's a playboy even for the presumably promiscuous Weyrfolk. And that this is encouraged. (Also, weyrgirls =/= queen riders, so F'lessan is likely sleeping beneath his station, too. Nice double standard.)

Something else in my head says that a much earlier book said children are raised communally in the Weyrs, so as to prevent attachments to biological parents (who could be killed by Thread at any point or so might end up in completely different coupling arrangements at any time, whether mating flight induced or not). If memory serves correctly, then this entire scene of weyrgirls chasing F'lessan makes even less sense, because parenting support should be coming from the Weyr, not the father.

_[Memory is good here. Not that it matters. And when the Todd books take over, we'll get this weird hybrid of daycare and parents raising their own children in the Weyr, so that we can get tongues wagging about lesbians raising children.]_

And we still don't know what happens to the candidates that don't win. Presumably, Groghe's daughter will go back to the family, but what about other candidates without families that want them to return?

Robinton keeps the topic on Toric, on finding a new supply for paper pulp, and other things he thinks are innocuous.

> "Will we end up having to fight him [Toric] for holdings in the South?" Lessa went on, shooting him [Robinton] a fierce glance for his casual manner.  
>  "My dear Lessa, no one, absolutely no one, is going to challenge a man, or a woman, mounted a-dragon! And let us hope there is never a point at which that is even remotely possible."  
>  "Southern Weyr?" F'lar reminded the Harper severely.  
>  "Well, yes, now, but that was not aggression--it was abduction."

Abduction born of desperation, I might note, and from one dragonrider to another, as a fight of equals. The only time we've seen anyone else challenge the dragonriders, the mere appearance of the dragons spooked both the horses and the humans sufficiently well to make the fighting force fall apart. So Robinton is correct, at least for now. Because firearms and explosives are probably also in the AI's database, and they might very well get deployed in some way and he found out to be effective against dragons, too.

Having talked about F'lessan, the narrative shifts over to him playing hooky from both Landing and the Hatching, musing on whether or not he is going to be a Weyrleader (he thinks not, based on Golanth's abilities), and then investigating a cloud of herdbeasts in different colors before both reflective water and thermals catch Golanth's attention.

F'lessan is a recipient of one of six wristwatches on Pern (Piemur, Larad, Jissamy, Robinton, and Fandarel are the others), all constructed by Jancis. Hello, miniaturization and also tiny mechanisms and possibly quartz crystals and button batteries if the watches aren't self-winding. We've leapfrogged well past the beginning of the industrial revolution and are well on our way to space age materials and items. On a world that was supposedly settled because it was resource and metal poor. I wonder if that's been retconned, too.

F'lessan also asks Golanth about finding thermals to glide on, and gets more information than he, or we, bargained for.

> **My eyes see the variation of air, I smell the difference, and my hide feels the altered pressure.**  
>  **Really?** F'lessan was impressed with the explanation. **Been listening in on my aerodynamics lessons with Aivas?**  
>  Golanth thought that over. **Yes. You listen to him, so I thought I should. Ruth does, and Path certainly. Ramoth and Mnementh don't. They prefer to sleep on the sun while Lessa and F'lar are here. Bigath listens, and Sulath and Beerth. Clarianth occasionally, but Pranith always and Lioth whenever his rider's down. Sometimes the listening is very interesting. Sometimes it's not.**  
>  Not only was that an unusually long speech for Golanth, but it gave F'lessan such food for thought that he was kept occupied with the ramifications until the edge of the vast inland sea became visible.

There are quite a few potential ramifications there. They're not spelled out, of course, but I can think of a few, one of which should be "the intelligent creatures at have pair-bonded with are at least as smart as we are, if not smarter, he can follow along with lectures as well." Which makes me wonder what a dragon with a working knowledge of science could do with their own abilities, like being able to teleport to a set of coordinates, or even better, to a very specific set of space-time coordinates, without having actually seen the destination in some way. Or possibly to give some assistance to their rider on helping understand or construct things. Or perhaps rearrange themselves into a more efficient coverage method for roasting Thread, doing the same job with less dragons.

F'lessan and Golanth continue to explore the area around them, taking note of the way the trees are growing in the area, and discovering the Xanadu settlement, which F'lessan thinks would be an excellent Weyr when Thread isn't menacing from the skies. They move on to the Honshu settlement, the one encountered in Rescue Run, which Golanth only spots before dark because he sees herdbeasts going in one of the doors. After camping for the night, F'lessan gives it another shot, and while repulsed by the smell of the dung "up to midthigh in some places", he explores enough to find a sled, sufficiently preserved to be recognizable as such from pictures that AIVAS had. Emboldened by this discovery, F'lessan explores more until he comes across the murals painted in the main hallway of Honshu that we last saw in Rescue Run, and takes it as independent verification of AIVAS's account of things (even though he hopefully knows that the settlers had communication devices.)

F'lessan concludes this spot would be excellent for the Ninth Weyr, and the chapter ends, keeping tension alive for, well, until the next page. Which will have to be next week, I guess.


	12. A Smidgen of Doubt

Last chapter was a bit of a breather, even as it did much characterization violence to Lessa and made sure the banner of the double standard was as spotless as possible for display.

**All the Weyrs of Pern: Chapter 12: Content Notes: Bro-Code, the lying AI**

Chapter 12 begins with the Crafts swarming over Honshu, cataloging and hauling off everything they can get their hands on, even the sled, which would require someone to manufacture new power banks for it to run. S'len also discovered a rack of functional space suits, which allows AIVAS to adjust some of its plans to include a bit of breathing room. The addition of the other two ships also helps with the plan, and an artist (Perschar, who we met in a previous book) is set to use the telescopes to map the terrain of the wanderer for whatever distinctive features might be useful. The Smiths are sent to learn the construction of the ship and see if there are any other useful things to be scavenged.

On one of these trips up, Fandarel asks a smart question and gets a very curt answer.

> Fandarel, thinking about that fuel, wondered why the settlers had dared to leave the colony ships in an orbit that was ultimately destined to decay. Aivas replied curtly that that was not an immediate concern: So far the orbits had not decayed, and the surface of Pern was not at risk--not, at least, from ship debris.

It's a really good question - why leave a ship up there that is likely to have a very bad effect when it crashes down? Unless the colonists were very sure that the ship itself would break up and vaporize in the atmosphere, there's basically enough tonnage to perform a Colony Drop on the planet's surface, and their supposedly low-tech agrarian descendants would be unable to handle it, much less _know that it was coming_. Sure, it won't be their problem, because it will take millennia to achieve this and they'll all be dead, but 20th century Terran technology has to plan very carefully what they do with decommissioned satellites and other such things. It's unlikely that the characters of Three Hundredth or Three Thousandth Pass Pern would successfully be able to understand why the Dawn Sisters are moving, much less prevent a possible extinction event if they should all land wrong.

_[Especially when the contours of The Plan itself are revealed to the reader, it becomes an immediately important question as to how one prevents the big ships from crashing down and causing a Total Planet Kill. Yet, Fandarel gets brushed off and this is just accepted.]_

Before we can get too far into the ramifications of this, S'len activates the red alert when he sees Thread approaching.

> "It's Thread, Jancis, I'm sure of it," S'len replied. "Not space debris. There's this flood of egglike things of varying sizes streaming toward us. Looks just like the stuff Aivas described to us in his lecture. Space debris wouldn't come in a steady flow, would it? This stuff goes back as far as we can see from the window. Only none of them ever hits the window, and the pilot's board is all lit up and the engineer's station is beeping at us." His words came tumbling out in his haste to describe the situation. Then his voice became agitated. "Bigath and Beerth are demanding that we go **outside**. They say it's Thread. I never should have even **thought** what I thought it is!" Then, in an explosive aside: "No, Bigath, we **can't** fly this sort of a Fall. It's not Thread yet, if that's what it is! We haven't any firestone, and there's no air out there, and you wouldn't fly outside anyway--you'd float, just like in here. Shards! Jancis, I can't make her understand!"  
>  S'len didn't panic easily, and Bigath was not as erratic as some greens.

Ah, yes, that is actually a relevant problem when you have giant creatures bred to fight a thing who see it in an entirely new context. S'len is right, too, that methods that work in a planetary environment don't work in the vacuum. Considering that AIVAS has said dragons can survive for a while out there, if the dragons could be outfitted with weapons that would work in space, theoretically Thread could be vaporized before it made planetfall. That might speed development of things on the Pern.

_[Also relevant is that the desire to destroy Thread is super hard-coded into the dragons themselves, to the point where they will try to achieve that goal despite being unable to do anything about it. If that was an intentional design by Kitti Ping, then one very much wonders what she was thinking in running the program. We've had this happen in several other places, where the dragons are super-eager to go at the Thread. That has the potential for disaster written all over it, unless dragons can eat Thread in the same way the fire-lizards can.]_

The panic continues up here, however, before we can turn our attention to such things.

> "When is Ruth coming, Bigath wants to know!" S'len's tone had altered from dismay to desperation. Aivas's calm voice continued to exhort the green dragons to listen to reason, but he was using reason that the dragons were not able to hear. Jancis was scribbling a note to Jaxom to come at once when S'len with a cry of relief, said, "Ruth's here and everything's under control!"  
>  Jancis looked at the note and then at her fire-lizard, who cocked his head at her quizzically. She considered the matter for a moment longer and then made a decision. There was absolutely no way in which Jaxom and Ruth would have known to come to the bridge. He was in Ruatha today, and Aivas had no way of communicating with him there. She checked the exact time on her watch and wrote it down on the note. She added a final phrase in big letters: "TIME IT!" Then she sent Trig off to Ruatha and Jaxom.  
>  "But if Ruth and Jaxom are here, why send the note now?"  
>  Jancis smiled at her grandfather. "Trig needs the practice, Granddad."

So Jancis knows the secret but Fandarel doesn't? Or is Fandarel's attention just diverted and he's not thinking through how things are going so far?

In any case, Jancis says she wants to see what Thread looks like in space, and so the Smiths all troop up to the bridge to see what the spores look like. Jaxom is described as having a laugh at the sight of everything, which is in character for him, I guess, since he's no longer the sympathetic boy from before.

Once everyone gets into a stable state, Fandarel makes exactly the suggestion I had thought of before:

> "Fascinating! To be amid Thread and unharmed by it. Truly astounding. It's a great pity we can't do something to stem the tide here, before it reaches the surface."  
>  S'len groaned. "Please don't even think that," he said, flicking his hand at the willing creatures whom Ruth was visibly restraining at the window.  
>  "Thread doesn't look so dangerous right now," Jancis said thoughtfully as she watched the ovoids sweep in and abruptly disappear.

And then the next logical conclusion happens - Jaxom and Jancis suggest sending out a fire lizard to capture a Thread spore and keep it in an airless airlock for study. AIVAS points out that Lemos and Nabol tried but crashed, and tries to ward off the idea with how dangerous it is. It is ignored. AIVAS, seeing they plan on doing it, recounts the benefits of the plan. Trig is briefed by Jancis and Ruth, and succeeds at snagging a Thread egg and depositing it in the airlock. Which then triggers the hasty construction of an investigation team, to be brought up to study it.

Jaxom takes advantage of the situation to tweak AIVAS again about departure from the planned activities, and the bridge has amused glances as AIVAS recalculates and realizes the ships pass through Thread every fourth Fall. And then leads Jaxom to realize that the deflector shields can also be used as destructor shields, using the Yokohama to vaporize any Thread that gets in the way. Fandarel wants to know if the effect can be extended. On a no, AIVAS endures another round of people asking what the actual plan is and getting nowhere with it before Jaxom suggests that the deflectors on the other two ships could also be used as destructors. Cue a giant clamor of everyone asserting they have the right to do it on the other ships, until Jaxom asserts himself again.

> "As Lord Holder, I outrank everyone else, so I will make the decision. Master Fandarel deserves the chance for many reasons, and Jancis, too. However, Bigath and Beerth brought all you Smithcrafters up here, so they can just haul you across to the other ships, as well. You--" He pointed at Balterac. "--can be trusted with switching the screen from deflect to destroy. And you--" He indicated Fandarel. "--can then engage. Jancis, you reprogram the shield, and Evan, you can hit the ENTER key. So you'll all take part."

Wait, Jaxom outranks both the Mastersmith and the dragonriders? I don't think so. For one, that would create a significant imbalance of power, even with the Crafters' ability to pull all their people out. Second, that contradicts what we learned just a few chapters ago, when Lytol very firmly told off a Lord Holder who believed he could forbid the creation of new Crafts. The Crafts, dragonriders, and Holders are independent of each other and have been deliberately set up this way.

If Jaxom had said "I have the most experience in space," I'd be willing to go along with that. But "I outrank you all" does not.

AIVAS points out that doing the change in shields will only affect a miniscule amount of Thread, but everyone else notes the morale boost would be substantial and prepares to go do it.

> "That is," Jaxom said, turning to the green riders, "if you and your dragons are amenable..."  
>  S'len and L'zan were more than amenable.

That's what I thought.

With the bridge clear, AIVAS asks Jaxom a second time about the carrying capacities of dragons.

> "Jaxom," Aivas began, "how much weight can the green dragons carry? Their burdens today weigh more than their body weight."  
>  "A dragon is capable of carrying as much as he thinks he can," Jaxom replied with a shrug.  
>  "So if the dragon thinks he can carry the object, irrespective of its actual weight, he will?"  
>  "I don't think anyone's actually tried to overload a dragon. Didn't you tell me the earliest ones were used to transport loads out of Landing following the eruption?"  
>  "That is true. But they were never, as you surmised, permitted to carry great weights. In fact, Sean O'Connell, the leader of those early riders, resented the fact that the dragons were used in such a capacity."  
>  "Why?"  
>  "That was never explained."

[(!)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P5qbcRAXVk)

Wait a minute... If the story we saw in Dragonsdawn is supposed to be the story AIVAS tells the descendants about their ancestors, there's pretty clear indications of what Sean thinks about the use of dragons as cargo ferries. Is AIVAS extrapolating, or just making things up that sound good to the descendants?

Also, at least two genders of dragons. And the repetition of the fact that dragons violate the laws of physics. Sounds like someone is getting some flak about the unreality of their attempts to make an unreality. The acknowledgements (at the back in this ebook - a print copy had them at the front) gives a very sharp poke at people insisting on consistency and continuity:

> The author and Dr. Jack Cohen are fully aware that some of the procedures and developments of new products suggested in these pages would probably take many more months, years, to produce and effect than is here suggested. However, there are certain licenses that an author, and her advisor, may take to produce a novel. Then, too, the Pernese had Aivas to help the, didn't they?

That certainly sounds like someone attempting to wield either [Bellisario's Maxim](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BellisariosMaxim) or the [MST3K mantra](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MST3KMantra) as a defense. I think it would work better, though, if the author wasn't trying so hard to move in a harder-science direction. As a story of "characters of a fantasy world discover they are in fact the descendants of a high technology society," Pern works just fine. As a story of "characters of a fantasy world discover they are in fact the descendants of a high technology society, whose science is totally based in extrapolations of reality in 20th c. Terra, and is easily reconstructed," Pern falls flat from the dragons forward. There's another series (the Talents / the Rowan) that started on more SFnal ground than this, and if there's arc welding trying to get Pern into that universe, there's a long way to go before it's plausible.

Picking up where we left off , AIVAS then asks about the other way that dragons violate known physics.

> Jaxom smiled to himself. "Dragons can do a lot of inexplicable things."  
>  "For instance," and Aivas's voice altered subtly, "arriving in very timely fashions?"  
>  Jaxom chuckled. "That's one."  
>  "How did you contrive such a serendipitous entrance?"  
>  "Jancis was clever enough to put down the time. When I visualized the bridge for Ruth, I also visualized the bridge clock--" Jaxom pointed to the digital face--"at a minute before the one she gave. So, of course, we arrived--" He chuckled again, "--in time!"

Awful puns aside, that answers on the small scale about whether or not clocks could be used to time jump as well as place jump. I also don't think Jaxom visualized a bridge full of chaos, so presumably, Ruth instinctively picked an exit point where he would avoid telefragging anyone, himself included. If the clock on the bridge also keeps date and year, presumably, that would be a way of transiting back and forth in time without the risk of materializing into something or someone else. Since dragons automatically correct for place, so long as Jaxom just adjusts the bridge clock, he could go anywhere and use the viewers and telescopes to scope out landing points for other dragons to arrive at to study the past. And so long as he kept good records in the computer, Jaxom would be able to avoid paradoxing himself or having anyone be in two places at the same time. There's going to have to be thought into constructing the stable time loop in the way that Jancis just did, but it would be doable.

_[I still maintain that there could have been a relay system set up to transit important information into the future and have important questions asked and answered as a regular part of dragonrider training, but, the more you include time travel in your plots, the more your plots become about time travel, and both of these authors insist without proof or example that time is fixed and that anything a person does in the past was something they already did or was already going to do, trying to remove the obvious advantages of being able to float about in time and fix mistakes.]_

After the shields do their work, AIVAS advises they be reset to deflection. Fandarel asks who was on duty at Landing, in anticipation of a discussion between everyone about whether or not to display this stunt as yet more proof of the usefulness of the technology. Jaxom pops over to Benden to inform the Weyrleaders of what went on, gets admonished for using time travel, and then further admonished for having a sample of Thread in the airlock. Which actually leads to the first on-camera discussion of whether AIVAS is fully trustable.

> "I'm curious, Jaxom, and you're more in Aivas's company these days than we are: This dissection business makes me wonder if Aivas's basic imperatives conflict with ours."  
>  "Not where the annihilation of Thread is concerned. Though sometimes I don't understand why he has us doing some of those endless drills and exercises. Especially now that he has been revealed as fallible."  
>  F'lar grinned. "Did Aivas ever say he was not?"  
>  "He likes to give the impression that he's never wrong," Lessa said in a sharp tone, looking alarmed.  
>  Jaxom grinned. "Good teacher image, and that's necessary when he has to pound all these ideas into our parochial heads."  
>  "Is his fallibility a danger to us?" F'lar asked.  
>  "I don't really think so. I'm just commenting on it since we are private today," Jaxom went on, "and because I was so surprised when Aivas did not know Thread's decent passed so close to the **Yokohama**."  
>  F'lar blinked, absorbing that information, and Lessa's down deepened. "Surprised? Or worried?"  
>  "Well, it's not his fault. The ancients didn't know it, either," Jaxom said with some satisfaction.  
>  F'lar grinned back at him. "I see what you mean, Jaxom. Makes them more human."  
>  "And Aivas not so inhumanly perfect."  
>  "Well, it doesn't please me," Lessa snapped. "We've believed everything Aivas had told us!"  
>  "Don't fret, Lessa. So far Aivas has not lied to us," F'lar said.  
>  "But if he doesn't know everything ,how can we now be sure he's guiding us in the right direction with this great plan of his that's supposed to destroy Thread forever?" she demanded.

Lessa is being the voice of reason here. It's too bad that the narrative is trying to portray her as being the hysterical woman concerned about nothing compared to the confident young man and his knowing older mentor. The Lessa I remember plots and schemes and has rational reactions to things (that aren't Thread - very few people can react to that dispassionately) instead of having so much time spent on her tone instead of her content.

Also, I'm unsure that anyone can claim with confidence that the AI has not lied to them. It may not have told lies on anything they can go and confirm, but AIVAS has already demonstrated understanding of shades of meaning. It doesn't have to lie to steer the planet in a bad direction. And it has a vested interest in keeping the ancestor-worship alive, because there's still enough heft in being the archive of the Ancients to draw people who aren't on board with the idea of technology and modernization. So much like how we didn't get to hear about Lytol's objections, Lessa's objections, echoed or very close to the anti-AI faction's objections, are being dismissed without being taken seriously. (That it's Lessa being dismissed is an extra dimension of wrong, based on how she's been treated by the men of Pern over all of these works.)

_[Lessa's skepticism is extra-warranted here, and it should be joined by the Benden Weyrleader, not dismissed by him. Jaxom is the one I would expect to be sanguine about the fact that the AI just demonstrated there was something it didn't know. Because plans, such as they are, always have to be altered once the actual situation is understood. There's no reason to believe that the AI can't think quickly, given new inputs, but what Pern absolutely wants in this situation is a plan that has tried to account for every contingency it could think of, and a few possible responses in case an[Outside Context Problem](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutsideContextProblem) shows up to wreck the party. The Benden Weyrleaders have a lot of faith and trust invested in them, and they would not want to find out what happens when the entire planet suddenly thinks of dragonriders as fallible.]_

Resuming, Jaxom thinks he's starting to figure out The Plan.

> "I'm beginning to figure out what that's going to be," Jaxom said so confidently that Lessa gave him a long look. "Aivas is obviously teaching us at the rate at which he feels we'll be able to absorb the revolutionary ideas; these exercises are what we'll have to perfect before we can achieve his goals, which are ours, and were our ancestors'."  
>  "And will you let us in on your conclusions?" Lessa's tone was as caustic as Jaxom had ever heard it.  
>  [...Jaxom explains a bit, Lessa is unconvinced, but also wants to get in on the action that the green riders already are...]  
>  Lessa cocked her head at Jaxom, her expression thoughtful. "Does Aivas plan for the dragons to move those ships?"  
>  "Move the ships?" Jaxom asked, surprised.  
>  "Why? How?" F'lar asked.  
>  "Remember, F'lar, when Aivas insisted the dragons should be able to move things telekinetically?"  
>  "Dragons can only move themselves, their riders, and what they carry," F'lar said categorically. "They cannot move things they're not holding. And what good would come of moving the ships? If his plan is somehow to use the ships to blow up the Red Star, I don't see what good that would accomplish. Not as I understand his lessons in spatial mechanics."  
>  "No more do I." Jaxom took the last gulp of his klah and rose. "Well, I've delivered my report of today's surprise."  
>  [...Jaxom suggests that the shields can be switched programmatically between destruct and deflect modes..]  
>  "You won't worry about Aivas's fallibility, will you, F'lar?" Jaxom asked in a lowered voice when they were in the short corridor beyond the weyr.  
>  "Me? No, certainly not," the Weyrleader assured him. "We've learned so much already from Aivas that, even if his vaunted Plan fails, we'll surely find our own ways of ridding Pern of Thread by the next Pass. But, somehow, Jaxom," F'lar said, griping Jaxom's arm hard to show his implacable resolve, "I know we'll manage to do it in this Pass! Make no mistake about that! We'll do it in my lifetime!"

...

...

AUGH.

Lessa is entirely on to something here. Jaxom's casual attitude toward what the actual carrying capacity of a dragon is combinable with the Benden Weyrleader's assertion that dragons only transport a limited set of things through hyperspace. I think Lessa has it, but isn't saying anything because she's not going to get anywhere with those two. If Mirrim should drop by, though, I wouldn't put it past Lessa to insinuate that some rider somewhere said that Path couldn't possibly move some extremely large object to Landing and watch with glee as Path digs her claws into it and vanishes it through hyperspace. Because Mirrim was sure Path could, and Path was holding on to it, after all, even if she wasn't carrying it in her claws.

If the theoretical upper bound is "whatever the dragon thinks they can move", presumably that means a single dragon, properly convinced, could move the wandering planet by themselves. They're already lifting and shifting more than their own body weights.

As it is, when everyone gets back from space, Lytol confides that he's having trouble finding a qualified person to dissect the Thread spore in space, because people understandably think that proximity to Thread equals death. Video of the Thread spore unchanging helps allay fears, and video of the shield destructor accompanies a report that the fall over Nerat was much easier thanks to the effort. Robinton and the Benden Weyrleaders want to go up into space and start training themselves, as well as engage some destructor screens of their own. Everything gets scheduled, and the chapter ends.

Next time, big dragons IN SPAAAAACE!


	13. A New Phase Dawns

Last time, someone actually expressed a lack of faith in AIVAS. Since it was Lessa, however, and she was in the presence of two Bros, Jaxom and the Benden Weyrleader, she was summarily dismissed, even when she had keen insight later on. Now, however, it's time to take big dragons up to space and engage in the satisfaction of roasting Thread before it actually gets to the planet.

**All the Weyrs of Pern: Chapter 13: Content Notes: False Humility, Manipulative Behavior**

Sharra and Oldive have volunteered to dissect Thread. The big dragons are ready to go up into an airlock. The transfer up goes smoothly. Everyone has to adjust to microgravity, with the Benden Weyrleader commenting on how Lessa has to try it. "I know you don't weigh much under any circumstances," he says, and then tells Robinton, "No strain for you, Robinton." My skin crawls at the casualness of making Lessa diminutive.

After adjustment, each grouping heads to their respective locations - analysis in a cold-sleep lab, the riders to the bridge to observe and destroy Thread. Path and Ruth take each Weyrleader to a different ship so they can enter the commands. Robinton gets to put things in on the Yokohama. As Thread gets vaporized, Sharra complains that no tools brought up can cut the outer shell, and there's not nearly enough space to use a flamethrower, even if they wanted to. They speculate about whether a diamond cutter could get in. AIVAS casually remarks that laser technology is still beyond them before confirming that the diamond cutter would be effective.

> "Then why on earth didn't you suggest we bring one along on this trip?" [Sharra] demanded.  
>  "The question was not put to this facility."  
>  "The trouble with you, Aivas," Sharra continued with some asperity, "is that you only tell us every you think we should know: not necessarily all we **need** to know or what we **want** to know."  
>  A long silence ensued, during which she and Oldive left the laboratory, sealing the door behind them.  
>  "Sharra's right, you know," D'ram remarked at last.  
>  "Indeed," Robinton said.  
>  "But would we have thought that a diamond cutter would be necessary, considering the selection of edged tools Sharra and Oldive **did** bring with them?" Jaxom asked, though he agreed completely with his mate and was rather proud of her for speaking so bluntly. It was significant, too, that Aivas had not refuted the accusation.

No kidding. The narrative likes giving truthful statements to women. Perhaps because those women will then be taken as seriously as the plot demands of them. But nobody is going to take this idea seriously, as it would mean throwing their lot in with the cartoon villains, instead of taking time to think about whether or not the way they're being fed information and technology might serve a purpose other than their own. They've already anthropomorphized the AI, surely that means they can envision the idea of it having interests of its own, rather than just theirs.

Before the next plot beat, Jaxom reflects on how nice it is to be able to work on two different time zones, so that he can stay with the AI and get the work done of running Ruatha in his twenty-hour days. Because surely nobody might be concerned about the Lord being absent all the time or use that void to plot or otherwise sabotage him.

The plot beat is that a roof of Honshu has caved in and a secret compartment has discovered sacks filled with something. Fighting the urge to go back to sleep, Jaxom joins all the other dignitaries at Honshu, having to navigate fog for landing. F'lessan has been blessed with a little of good sense, so that when he opened a sack to examine the contents, he stopped at the awful smell and didn't proceed to tasting the liquid inside. Since it's Kenjo's secret fuel stash, discovered when a dragon crashed through the ceiling, F'lessan can count himself lucky or prudent. 

_[Which suggests that the fuel stash was so big that even refueling the shuttle in Rescue Run wasn't enough to deplete it.. Kenjo kept enough for himself to have a good time through the rest of his life flying a small craft. How good was he, then, that his stash could refuel a much bigger craft, but still have some left over for a much later descendant to find?_ _Also, since it's been nearly two thousand years since that fuel was stashed, is there any reason to believe that it would actually still be usable? I would have expected something to degrade in all of that time. Unless, of course, super-awesome future fuel sacks are airtight and have a shelf life of several millenia. Which would be an environmental nightmare unto themselves…]_

AIVAS confirms that it's fuel, and dashes Jaxom's hopes of being able to take a ship to the source of Thread and destroy it by showing them the actual scale of the Oort cloud that they would have to destroy. AIVAS exhorts everyone not to give up on the plan, even as it is still not forthcoming with the details of how they will alter the Red Star's orbit. It also quickly changes the subject to say that every dragonrider is going to need to get trained in microgravity, much to the happiness of those riders.

> A new enthusiasm swept through all the Weyrs, overcoming the mid-Pass apathy.  
>  Three days later, fires were set among the fuel sacks, but fire-lizards gave the alarm so no harm was done. On hearing of the near disaster, Aivas was unperturbed and, in an offhanded tone, informed the agitated Lytol and D'ram that the fuel was non-flammable.  
>  [...Fandarel wants to know how and is rewarded with a lecture on jet propulsion that confuses everyone...]  
>  That evening Master Morilton dispatched his fire-lizard with an urgent and horrified message that someone had destroyed all the lenses his Hall had ready to be installed in microscopes and telescopes, ruining months of hard and patient work. Later the next morning Master Fandarel found that the metal barrels [a subordinate] had been producing to house the lenses had been thrown into the forge fire and distempered overnight.

_[What kind of fuel is this, then, that is not flammable to start with, and remains in a not-flammable state after a couple of millennia of sitting there?]_

That's a good tactical change for the anti-AI faction. At this point, they understand direct action won't work, so they're resorting to sabotage and terrorism, like a good guerilla warfare unit would. Which means the next action should be a targeted attack on someone who seems vulnerable.

And lo, after talking a bit about how Thread is weird, even for the AI, and pointing out that metal tools get brittle at the necessary temperatures to keep Thread dormant, Sharra is involved in a riding strap break in much the same way that Jaxom's was. Because, of course, Jaxom didn't tell Sharra about his problem, nor where he was hiding his own straps, so as not to worry her. Ruth saves her, and then Sharra goes on using a different dragon and rider (called "all right for an [time-skipped]" by Ruth), Jaxom takes care of discipline meetings, and then, when he fesses up to Sharra about what happened, she "[tears] strips out of him for 'sparing' her anxiety" and then confirms for us that Jaxom really is the main character here.

> "Especially when you're the leader for all of Aivas's plans."  
>  "Me? The leader?" Jaxom stared at her in complete surprise.  
>  "Well, you are, even if you don't realize it." Then her severe expression softened. "You wouldn't." She gave him a sweetly condescending smile. "You are, though. Take my word for it, and everyone on the planet knows it."  
>  "But I--I--"  
>  "Oh, don't get fussed, Jax. It's one of your most endearing traits that you don't get puffed up with importance and irritate people with an inflated self-consequence."

Oh, yes, and it's "Jax" and "Sharrie" as pet names for each other.

Also, 

Jaxom doesn't get too egotistical, we're told, despite trying to pull rank last chapter, demanding an apology for the Weyrs before that, and generally having had the privilege of being both Lord and dragonrider before also becoming the leader of whatever AIVAS has planned. And before that, used said dragon to be the hero that returned the egg, to steal his wife from where she was being kept prisoner, and also used his station to get a girl to have sex with him. But he's not got an inflated sense of self-worth...compared to the other, more senior Lords Holder, perhaps, who have been used to their positions and their power for all their lives, instead of being precariously balanced, as Jaxom has been.

At the scheduled meeting for discussing the vandalism, Jaxom informs everyone else about the incidents with the riding straps and is dressed down by everyone else in the room for not telling them when they happened, over his protests that he's been careful. AIVAS mandates extra security for the Halls, and is glad the vandals didn't damage the truly useful things to the plan.

> "All that work is divided along several Halls and different locations," Fandarel said with an air of relief. Then he shook his head, his expression doleful. "I find it very hard to believe that some member of my Crafthall could so wantonly destroy the hard work of his colleagues."  
>  "Your society is a trusting one," Aivas said, "and it is sad to see that trust betrayed."  
>  "It is, indeed," Fandarel agreed, his voice heavy with sadness.

_[Coocowhat now?]_

That's...no. At _best_ , I might describe Pern as a place that espouses "Trust, but verify." Where "trust" is very specifically spelled out in contracts and agreements that always benefit the aristocrat over anyone else except a dragonrider. Fandarel can't be ignorant of the politics - even a ruthless drive for efficiency will put you on someone's bad side. I would believe he usually has a buffer between himself and the rest of the planet, though.

If I were feeling cynical, I would say that was a calculated statement by the AI, to try and make people believe the best of themselves, instead of the reality that the sabotage represents. And I would also point out that we just had a novel all supposedly about the people who are cast aside by this society and would probably enjoy doing damage to it, given resources to do so. Even more so now that there's a focal point for all that disaffection, and it could create alliances between the disaffected and the Lords who want to keep their hands officially clean.

Security measures are implemented, including watch-whers, fire-lizards, and feline cubs, which Sharra mentions Toric has used, although they need to be locked up during the day. This suggests to me that the Records from the plague in the Moreta/Nerilka time have been lost or destroyed, as nobody that I know of would willingly associate with what was suspected to be a plague-carrier. Sensitive objects are to be sent up to the spaceships as soon as possible, including the fuel.

> "Is there any guarantee that they'd be safe there?" Lytol wanted to know. He ignored those who regarded him with anger, dismay, disbelief, or anxiety as he waited for Aivas's reassurance.  
>  "This facility can efficiently and effectively monitor the **Yokohama** as you [can] your individual Holds, Halls, and Weyrs," Aivas replied.  
>  "And the guardian guards himself!" Lytol added in a low voice.  
>  "Q.E.D.," Aivas said.  
>  "Cue ee dee?" Piemur asked.  
>  "That has been demonstrated."

And on that cuteness, the chapter ends.

In that last block, it doesn't seem likely that Lytol would be the person to both ask for reassurance and add an additional bit on the end. I think that last line was intended to be spoken by someone else. But that's just me.

Lytol is right, though - all it would take is one rogue dragonrider and the spaceship is just as vulnerable as everywhere else. Even though AIVAS would react faster than humans would.

_[And, since someone thinks they're being cute with some logic Latin, I have a feeling that if someone knew it, like Lytol, they might be aiming for a different bit of very well-known Latin: Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Which might be what Lytol is aiming at here, as the original could be translated as "Who will guard the guards themselves?" But, of course, it's unlikely that Lytol has gone through everything far enough to get to Juvenal. It's still a really important question with regard to the AI.]_

I expect the tempo and seriousness of the attacks to increase, despite the additional security, because that's what would make a good story at this point. Tune in next week to see if I'm horribly disappointed.


	14. I'm Making A Note Here

Last chapter presented sabotage and attacks as well as a discovery of Honshu and its secret fuel stores. The Pernese got a look inside a Thread casing, but didn't learn a whole lot. And now comes more space exercises... 

**All the Weyrs of Pern: Chapter 14: Content Notes: Toxic masculinity**

The chapter opens with the fuel from Honshu deposited into the main tanks, which is unremarkable except for that technology has marched on to the point where Jaxom and Piemur can share klah from a "hot bottle" composed of glass, an insulating layer of plant fiber, and a plastic outside layer. AIVAS called it a thermos when Piemur got it, and Jaxom has a little bit of gadget envy. Piemur dismisses it as Harper privilege to try out new things, and that he was conveniently there to receive it. Having dumped fuel, AIVAS tells them that the next step of the Plan requires dragons to be able to survive the vacuum for at least twelve minutes, ideally fifteen. AIVAS would like Ruth and Jaxom to be the test flyers to make sure the idea of anchoring dragons by letting them grip enclosures that had fuel tanks is sound.

Piemur, normally the daredevil, is hesitant, while Jaxom is game.

> Then Piemur fixed Jaxom with a fierce stare. "So you're going to do it? Without checking with anyone?"  
>  Jaxom glared right back, anger rising. "I don't need to check with anyone, Piemur. I've been making my own decisions for a long time. This time, I get to make it without anyone else's interference. Not yours, or F'lar's, or Lessa's, or Robinton's."  
>  "Sharra's?" Piemur cocked his head, his eye contact unswerving.  
>  [...Piemur continues to be anxious...]  
>  Jaxom gripped his shoulder. "Don't forget that Aivas cannot endanger human life. And we've seen tapes of spacemen doing EVA drills."

THAT IS PATENTLY FALSE, JAXOM. Unless, that is, you believe the deafening that Aivas did didn't endanger anyone's life, even though it did permanent damage to their hearing. It could have really ruptured something that would have endangered life or made it impossible to keep balance or any number of things. And that, I presume, is one of the lower-level protection systems in place. From everything I have seen and heard so far, the AI is definitely not Three Laws Compliant and would probably happily exterminate an enemy of the Plan that proved a threat or danger to it or anyone it needed.

As it is, Piemur helps Jaxom get settled in his suit, and there is an EVA, where Ruth shows a lot of initiative and independence in decision-making where they want to go and when it is time to go back into the ship. Ruth thoroughly enjoys the trip, and Jaxom appreciates the view. Piemur is less happy about it.

> Piemur let out an exaggerated sigh. "And if you and Ruth can do it, every other dragon and rider on Pern will feel required to follow your example. Is that what you wanted, Aivas?"  
>  "The result is inevitable, given the friendly competitiveness of dragonriders."  
>  Piemur raised both hands in a gesture of resignation. "As I said, with a friend like Aivas, you don't need enemies!"

Indeed so, Piemur. Although I wonder how much of it will be "friendly competition" and how much it will be "can't be shown up by the runt and the Holder-child." _[It's probably more the latter than the former, given how much dragonriders treasure their egos]_

When they get back to Landing, Lytol gives Jaxom a mild dressing-down about the unscheduled EVA, followed by the text mentioning that several more were given as each of the other major stakeholders are informed of what happened. D'ram and Robinton immediately see there is a reason behind the reason of getting dragons adjusted to space and decide to go ask the AI, who finally decides to let them and us in on the plan, assisted by Jaxom and Piemur realizing key points along the way - to move the engines of the spacecraft to a chasm on the wanderer, and then engage an uncontrolled matter-antimatter reaction by using the nitric acid already used for flamethrowers to corrode the protective barrier between the two. The resulting explosions should provide enough force at the designated time to permanently shift the wanderer's orbit into a nonlethal pattern.

> "How heavy are those engines?" F'lar asked.  
>  "Their mass is the one weak point of the plan. However, you have constantly stated that the dragons can carry that which they think they can carry."  
>  "Correct, but no one has ever asked them to carry engines!" F'lar replied, awed by the scale of the loads.  
>  Jaxom began to chuckle and received offended stares. "That's why the bronzes have been exercising in free-fall--to get them used to things being so much lighter in space. Right, Aivas?"  
>  "That is correct."  
>  "So if we don't tell them how much those bloody things weigh..."  
>  "Now, really, Jaxom," F'lar began.  
>  "No, really, F'lar," Jaxom replied. "Aivas is applying a valid psychological technique. I think it'll work. Especially if we think it can work. Right?" He gave F'lar a challenging look.

This "cheeky kid" routine is probably supposed to make us cheer for Jaxom more against the established and slow older generation, and also show us just how much more clever the young ones are, but Jaxom comes off the worse for this exchange, more like the insufferable know-it-all who impatiently words for everyone to catch up to his genius. He's convinced of his rightness and nobody is getting in his way. That he's the main character means the narrative invests in proving him right instead of making him wait.

_[There is a good question, though, of whether the entity that needs convincing is the human or the dragon. If the emotion of the human bleeds over to the dragon, then the humans are what needs convincing, and for that, all you need is to skeptically suggest that the dragons can't actually do it and you'll get it done. If the dragons are what need convincing, then you have to have the humans believe the dragon can do it. Which might be easier to accomplish if you have video footage of someone like Ruth lifting something that everyone else goes "there's no way…well, if that runt can lift that much, my bronze can lift that much more." Either way, Jaxom gets to be right, because he understands the psychology of it. Even though Lessa would be the person to be able to grok it immediately if given the chance.]_

The plan of making the dragons believe they can receives approval from Lytol and D'ram, and the Benden Weyrleader eventually comes around to it, as well. Lessa voices a practical concern - the distance to travel will be massive, and so dragons and riders both will need protection.

There's also a quick speculation that the reason why Lessa nearly died during the time jaunt was a lack of oxygen, implying that large time leaps are possible, if one has a spacesuit and sufficient oxygen supply for the trip. The lack of interest in experiencing history or documenting everything more thoroughly is even more glaring now, but since this bit is sandwiched in between other plot points, I don't expect it to come up again.

AIVAS also gets to tell us about its calculations on how long the jump will be.

> "From what has been said by every rider interviewed, only eight seconds elapse to reach most destinations here on Pern," Aivas went on. "Of those eight seconds, the dragons seem to use a basic five or so to assimilate their coordinates, and the rest of the time for the actual transfer. Using this premise and adapting it to a logarithmic computation, assume that travel takes 1 second for 1,600 kilometers, 2 seconds for 10,000, 3.6 seconds for 100,000, and 4.8 for 1 million and 7 to 10 seconds for 10 million. While this method of transference is still incomprehensible to this facility, it does appear to work. Therefore, knowing the approximate distance from Pern to the Red Star, it is easy to compute an interplanetary jump. It has also been established that dragons are able to function for fifteen minutes before their systems are in oxygen debt--more than enough time to make the journey, position the engines in the chasm, and return. The dragons are accurate fliers."

I'd like to know how the AI comes to the conclusion of five seconds of orienteering, unless somewhere in the databank is the results of experiments in dragons and their travel capacities. Also, the way AIVAS calculates suggests the dragons either accelerate in hyperspace, or perhaps that folding hyperspace the right way to get to the destination takes a little longer for a dragon to do when the distances are greater.

And no, it's not just a matter of knowing the distance, it's knowing the distance and giving the dragons a target point to land, on an object hurtling through the system at speed. It's so nice that dragons take this into account, if unconsciously. Otherwise, we would have to use computers.

The Benden Weyrleader immediately volunteers himself to make a trip out and back to test the theory, and forbids anyone else from joining him. Jaxom says he's coming, and that he'll go anyway if he's forbidden, so there. Lessa thinks they're both fools and decides to join them. Lytol is firmly in the camp of caution, on the idea of "if all y'all get killed at this juncture, you can kiss goodbye any chance of restarting this plan for a very long time" and that it is impossible to completely predict the future. He is ignored because there's way too much toxic masculinity in the room, between the Benden Weyrleader's "I can't ask anyone to do what I wouldn't do myself, because I AM LEADER," Jaxom's "I know best out of all of you, so you can't stop me," and Lessa's "I'm not missing out on this just because you think I'm a helpless chick."

But Lytol is right, and has been all this time about the dangers of these missions. It's a Star Trek Away Team mission, composed of the highest bridge and department officers. And if this were a realm where they were the only dragonriders, then sure, caution to the wind. But there are entire Weyrs of dragonriders that could be sent on such a mission, even if there's only a small subset of them that are trustworthy enough to actually undertake it. Like, say, Mirrim, who has the temperament and desire to prove herself every bit the equal. Why not give her the opportunity to do something heroic and awesome?

The chapter stops here, with the plan agreed to and Lytol pointing out the shortcomings of their confidence. One thing not mentioned that I can think of right now - if the ship engines are teleported and detonated, that leaves the ships themselves as giant hulks of metal on a decaying orbit. Fandarel was rightly concerned with being Colony Dropped when the ships ran out of fuel, and now the plan is to do just that, apparently. Unless the AI believes the massive ships will burn themselves up completely in the atmosphere. Or that dragons can be used to transport the ships safely to the ground where they can be scrapped or studied in case the Pernese decide to go exploring. But nobody is asking in their rush to prove themselves, meaning it will likely be up to Jancis or Fandarel to actually point this out.

_[Or they could set the ships on a course that will eventually put them into the star. Which will mess up the astronomy, but will prevent the explosions that would follow from the big ships coming down. This is the part where the descendants go "boy, our ancestors really screwed us, didn't they?" upon realizing that they can't take the ships back. Even though only some of them might want to go, it would be nice to have the option. Or to possibly take some dragons and spacesuits and go out to the FSP, enough to purchase more space suits, come back, and then take all the people who want to go back. Of course, they'd have to sort out the part where their sector of space has been officially interdicted for the last two thousand years because they thought everyone there had died out…]_

Let's see if they do it next time.


	15. Long-Distance Relationships

Last chapter, we finally learned The Plan - detonate starship engines in a crevice on the wandering planet do as to permanently alter its orbit and stop Thread forever. Nobody has thought about what to do with the ships after their engines are removed, yet, and they may not for a while.

**All the Weyrs of Pern: Chapter 15: Content Notes: Suicide, Attempted Homicide**

This chapter starts with anticipation of the journey. Jaxom is nervous that he's doing this with the Benden Weyrleaders, as opposed to his previous jaunt to grab the missing egg and the spontaneous EVA. Sharra's unexpected arrival threatens the plan's timetable, and although Jaxom tries to get her to talk, she doesn't say anything about why she's there. Since the conspirators don't want to talk about their upcoming journey in her presence, the action is stalled, which gives Robinton the opportunity to unveil a new song, with music composed by Menolly and words by a Harper named Elimona. Given name conventions of Pern, that suggests that Menolly is now confirmably not the only woman in Harper blue. I wouldn't be surprised, though, if Master Menolly is the only Master with women students.

We are then treated to the song's lyric, which Jaxom links to the political situation at hand as he listens.

> A heart that's true in harper blue  
>  makes song from heart's own fire,  
>  and though betrayed, is not afraid:  
>  in danger, leaps up higher.
> 
> No world is free of minstrelsy,  
>  nor noise, nor rage, nor sorrow.  
>  A harper must discharge his trust  
>  before he asks to borrow.
> 
> My Harper Hall is free to all  
>  who serve with song and playing.  
>  But you who'd hide your song inside  
>  are very sadly straying.
> 
> Will you withdraw beyond the law,  
>  lie safely in your slumber,  
>  while dangers shake your world awake  
>  and Death makes up his number?
> 
> Did harper here betray those dear  
>  he'd feel more than my tongue.  
>  If place you'd earn, you'd better learn  
>  more music than you've sung.
> 
> For if you die, while safe you lie  
>  hailed in your selfish bone,  
>  no chant will come, no harper drum,  
>  and you'll lie long alone.
> 
> Get up, take heart--go, make a start,  
>  sing out the truth you came for.  
>  Then when you die, your heart may fly  
>  to halls we have no name for.

Before getting into the content, a couple of useful meta bits. First, this is essentially outside content that's made it into an official work. The acknowledgements section credits Elizabeth Moon for having come up with the text of the poem that is credited to Journeywoman Harper Elimona.

Second, this is the first time, I believe, that we've had the full lyric to any song at all, rather than just having them be referred to by name and having to fill in the gaps ourselves. I'm sure there a perfectly good reason outside Pern as to why this is happening - reference materials, the popularity of fan communities, the presence of a compact disc of songs, perhaps, but inside this world, we haven't been treated to so in depth a view of the songs before. I wonder what it is about this point in time where the author has decided the full lyric needs to be shown. It could be as simple as "I saw this poem, and it was inspiring, so I included it."

_[The comments suggested this isn't the first time, but more like the second or third, but that still says something about the rarity of a full set of work showing up in the text, rather than fragments that might be part of the same song or of different songs. The Todd books will have fragments of song or poetry showing up as chapter epigraphs on the regular.]_

Which leads nicely into the content - this is pretty clearly a propaganda piece of some sort exhorting the world to get behind the AI's plan and do their part to contribute to the destruction of Thread. Not getting to hear Robinton and Piemur sing and play it, I can't make any meaningful commentary about how effective lyric and music work together, but given that it's Menolly at the helm of the music, I'm sure the tune is catchy and an earworm. Which is too bad, because these lyrics are crude. The background I have makes me wince at the use of "minstrelsy," given its long association with racism and blackface performances in the States.

The frame of the song is, essentially, a Master Harper calling their subordinates to be brave and speak truth, rather than hide in their office or the hall, with the threat that their names will be forgotten to time of they don't get on board. As an allegory, it's not bad, but it's also very...Terran? There are no references to dragons, Thread, or other unique things of Pern. Rather than Death being involved, Thread would have surely been a better invocation? There's plenty of gruesome imagery that can be invoked, and the mention would probably produce the right shudders among the listening audience. (That would mean modifying the poem, though, and that would probably make for difficulties.)

I also take an issue with the assertion that the Harper Hall is open to everyone, as that's facts not in evidence, or not enough evidence through demonstrating that there are lots of women Harpers at the Hall and / or as journeypeople by name or incidental contacts. The tightness of the cast works against the Harpers in this case, and there were two books dedicated to the institutional sexism of the Hall. It would take a lot to move the needle there.

After singing the new song, the Harpers pick up other tunes and singing, and Jaxom enjoys the entertainment, even though it's not actually helping relieve his anxiety that Sharra is here and hasn't told him anything about why yet. Eventually, everyone retires for the evening and Jaxom continues to try and keep Sharra away from the real plan. We learn that Jaxom has written letters in case things do go lethally wrong (a solid precaution - and also fascinating reading, if you ever get the chance to see letters written for contingencies, such as [ones written in case the first mission to put astronauts on the moon failed](https://www.archives.gov/files/presidential-libraries/events/centennials/nixon/images/exhibit/rn100-6-1-2.pdf)).

Jaxom also keeps Sharra off the immediate plan by telling her the long-term one (couched as AIVAS "call[ing] our bluff that the dragons can lift anything they _think_ they can."), and then seducing her.

His post-coital sleep is interrupted, however, with warnings from both Meer (one of her fire-lizards) and Ruth about an entering intruder. Jaxom slips out of bed and then catches the knife-wielding assailant in a hold. Jaxom gets slashed for his troubles, and retaliates by breaking the wrist that holds the knife. This downs the attacker long enough for reinforcements and light to arrive, showing the intended assailant is a dragonrider.

One of the time-skipped, in fact, mentioned as the rider that brought Sharra in at the beginning of the chapter. Ten points to all theories that suggested a dragonrider would be needed for killing Jaxom.

> Jaxom stared down at the old rider. "Blame?"  
>  "You! I know who it was now! It was you--and that white runt that ought to have died the moment it was born!" Outside, Ruth roared exception to the insult, then thrust his head through the window. "If it hasn't been for you, we'd've had our own fertile queen! We'd've had a chance!'  
>  [...Jaxom boggles that someone else knows...]  
>  "So it was you who cut the riding straps?" Jaxom demanded.  
>  "Yes, yes I did, and I'd've got you. I'd've kept trying until I did. Nor wept if your woman'd did that morning. Save Pern from more like you and that abortion!"  
>  "And you, a dragonrider, would see the death of another?" D'ram's scorn and horror made G'lanar flinch--but only briefly.  
>  "Yes, yes, yes!" His voice climbed in fury and frustration. "Yes! Unnatural man, unnatural dragon! Abominations as vile as that Aivas thing you worship." G'lanar's eyes glittered; his features were contorted.  
>  "That's enough of that," F'lar said, stepping forward purposefully.  
>  "It is! Enough!" Before either Jaxom, who had stepped back from the man, or F'lar, who was moving toward him, could act, G'lanar plunged his dagger into his own breast.

No, he didn't. Not unless he could get down to the floor where his knife was (the wrist with the knife in it was broken, presumably that means he dropped the knife), pick it up with his off hand, and then stab himself with it with sufficient strength to pierce his chest, all before anyone, human, dragon, or fire-lizard, could stop him. Essentially, nobody took the knife far enough away from G'lanar, despite his status as a threat, and even gave him enough room to be able to perform an action that would take several seconds to complete, despite the fact that he is still a threat. That's...highly improbable. Not just because all of his targets are still in the room, meaning that [Taking You With Me](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TakingYouWithMe) is definitely an option, but also because it would seem like a basic tenet to remove the weapons from the vicinity of the threatening person.

This sounds suspiciously like a cover story. "Oh, no, he somehow got a knife and killed himself!" Because dragonriders don't kill each other, and it would be quite the stain on the Aivas project for it to be known that they murdered someone with an objection to technology. 

I also don't fully buy that it's about the egg grudge, but then again, time-traveling dragons. Should be easy enough to observe the incident when the egg gets stolen back and figure out who was responsible. And grudges do last for a very long time if you want them to. "Sic semper tyranus" and all that. 

Most problematically, though, this plot is a _wasted opportunity_. Yes, there's a tangential reference to the AI, but what's coming through most strongly here is that Jaxom ruined the time-skipped's ability to keep their own way of life at the top of the pile in the new time, and so revenge is sought. It wouldn't be that much more difficult to extend the chain out a few more links and really tie in both the idea that _everyone_ is experiencing upheaval if their sacred traditions and methods, and that the clear similarity between all the leaders of this heretical faction is that they are unnatural. An intelligent machine, a tiny and iridescent dragon, a man who has one foot in each of the aristocratic and priestly castes, three old men ruling together, dragonriders that believe in the end of Thread, a girl Harper, a girl green dragonrider, and so on. It would really help underscore how far we've come from when the Benden Weyrleader was the narrative's epitome of TRADITION. There needs to be more connective tissue between this plot and the worldwide Luddite rebellion underway. This should be a "zOMG they even have dragonriders!" moment.

Instead, it's treated as a vestigial element, where the dragonriders put down inquiries of the dragons to say whether or not their riders are in accord or not. D'ram takes the body to have it given proper funerary rights. The next day reports no traitors from the dragons. There is a little possible flare of "How bad is the PR on this?", but it's essentially going to be sold as a single old dragonrider having a fit of insanity so as not to give credence to any of the rebellion's ideas.

_[If the dragonrider really was the kind of person who didn't care about who got hurt by his revenge, it surely would be easy enough to have decided to do a jump to hyperspace without a destination with Sharra aboard. And if time couldn't be broken, then so long as there wasn't any point in time where Sharra was out of sight of her murderer, there wouldn't be an opportunity for Jaxom to cheat time and rescue her. Instead, he tries to stab Jaxom while he sleeps, and somehow manages to get his knife and stab himself after delivering his manifesto. This seems more like "someone tried to kill Sharra and/or Jaxom, they were brutally dispatched because someone was prepared for them, and now we need to come up with a cover story so we can continue to discredit everyone who is against the AI." It's sloppy, all around. Jaxom has sloppy security, his assailant had sloppy preparations, and this sounds like a sloppy cover story for propaganda purposes._

_The one thing it should do, and absolutely doesn't, is spark a search for the people who are holding this particular position and endorsing the violent ends. I mean, it's nice to ask the dragons to make sure their riders are loyalists, but I'm not sure how accurate an answer they would get. It also makes me wonder whether the dragons can broadcast emotions other than sexytimes on a broad scale. And if they could, some flyovers with some very specific emotional content might root out many of the people who are opposed to the AI and willing to visit violence on others in service of that, and make them less of a danger. There's a certain amount of complacency that should not be present at all, now that there have been several attempts to hurt the AI and to hurt its closest allies. It doesn't necessarily mean that the response has to be what the United States did in response to the 11 September 2001 attacks (in fact, please not that), but for an author who was probably relatively familiar with the IRA and the Troubles, this seems like a very anemic response to a demonstrated serious threat.]_

And from there, it's space suits for everyone. Lessa is, of course, so small that the smallest of suits is still too large for her and adjustments need to be made. Jaxom and the Benden Weyrleader find it funny. Lessa doesn't. All three study their target image, to try and fix it in their minds so that the dragons will go there. And manage the jump perfectly well in about thirty seconds, popping out above the chasm in question, slowing to a stop eventually on the world that rains Thread, so that they can study various formations and possible places to set the engines down. With three suitable sites marked and the air supply running low in the dragons, all three pop back to the Yokohama to shed the space suits, and then back down to the planet to sketch out their pictures for others to use. And to refresh themselves and their dragons.

Jaxom checks in on Sharra, sees she's gone, remembers she was also going up to the ship today, and then goes off to bathe Ruth. And that's the chapter. Equal portions of "the trip to the Red Star to scout locations", "the song Menolly and Elimona made", and "the attempt to kill Jaxom by a dragonrider", which should have been a much bigger fear than it was.

Now we have all the pieces in place, except for the test of whether the dragons will warp with the engines. Once enough materials are manufactured, the Plan will be ready.

So what's going to try and get in the way now?


	16. A Halfway-Copmetent Plot

Last chapter, a plot against Jaxom came to a head, as a dragonrider attempted revenge for the re-stealing of Ramoth's egg. No serious narrative effort was made to connect this plot to the overarching tech rebellion. So, presumably, the "let's kill Jaxom and replace him with Pell" plot is still on. 

Also, Jaxom and the Benden Weyrleaders warped across the expanse of space to the Red Star to scout locations to drop starship engines for The Plan. 

**All the Weyrs of Pern: Chapter 16: Content Notes: Colonialism**

The successful test of the planetary hyperspace travel makes me think there's a really lucrative intergalactic dragon transport business waiting to happen, excepting for the part where Pern is essentially on the north end of a southbound galactic donkey.

Chapter 16 starts with Mirrim coming to collect Sharra for a trip up into space. The attack on Jaxom and subsequent deaths of G'lanar and Lamoth have already happened. Mirrim remarks that she didn't know dragons could die of shame (a detail related by Ruth in the last chapter that didn't seem important at the time), since we've been told that the dragons die because of the severing of the mental link between rider and dragon. That Lamoth felt shame long enough for it to register before following his rider suggests that it might be possible for dragons to live on after their riders die, as well, assuming there's some way of healing their minds like the humans can get (if the narrative likes them).

_[Of course, a dragon feeling shame should be a momentous event in itself, as I think that's the first and onnly time that particular emotion is ever mentioned as being part of a dragon. Given that they and their partners are generally a positivity positive-feedback loop, I would think that shame is very far down the list of things that dragons or their riders ever feel for very long.]_

After their morning klah, the two pack supplies for the trip, Mirrim talking to hide her feelings, according to Sharra, and then flatly refusing to have meatrolls taken, preferring the "proper bread and sliced meats and raw vegetables" that Robinton likes to eat. Which makes me wonder what exactly is in a meatroll, and if their presence has always indicated to us that the arts of food preservation are still around on Pern.

Sharra observes that Path's eyes match the color of her hide, and her causal remark on the matter ends up revealing more than intended.

> "Does she do that often?" Sharra asked, pointing to eye and hide.  
>  Mirrim flushed and ran a hand over the short front locks escaping the tieback. "Sometimes." Though she had a slight grin on her face, she wouldn't meet Sharra's eye. T'gellan was very good for Mirrim, Sharra thought.

That has to be either annoying or embarrassing, that your dragon is broadcasting your emotional state to someone who can read it correctly, and thus can deduce your crush or whether you had sex last night or whether you're incensed and trying to just play it off as nothing. Poker nights in the Weyrs have to be...interesting.

Secondly, the narrative is again attributing this softer side of Mirrim to T'gellan, as if he is somehow wholly responsible for the change in state and Mirrim has no agency in the matter. The narrative is also praising this softening, putting Mirrim into the same mold as all the other feisty and independent women who become far more domestic and deferential when they have a man in their lives. Mirrim and Brekke are both dragonriders, so they don't need no man if they don't want one, presumably, except Patriarchy! insists that women are only complete and their true selves when paired with a man and kept in domestic duty.

Speaking thereof, after a muse on how studying the Thread spore is going to take a lot more time and effort than initially thought, Sharra reflects on how she's always trying to steal a moment away to go back and raise her children, whom she misses a lot. If Ruatha can run itself for a bit, why not just bring the kids along? Or arrange for a caregiver?

_[Mirrim really was cut in Brekke and Lessa's mold, and ready to shake up the system with the opportunity she'd been given. Except, of course, that the narrative immediately got in her way and saddled her with a dragonrider that apparently she enjoys so much that she's willing to change her core self for him. That's usually a bad thing and a sign that there needs to be a serious conversation about the healthiness of the relationship. The narrative won't do that, though, because it's very convinced that all these rough-edged women just need A Man and they will become perfectly pliant Good Girls. Bleurgh.]_

After more wonder about why AIVAS wants to study a thing that won't be a threat anymore once the Red Star is orbit-shifted, Sharra details the lab, the inhabitants, and a summary of what they've learned so far about the organism (heat alone isn't enough to release the dormant stage, there needs to be friction, too) before observing the construction of cryo capsules derived from parts of one of the lab's refrigerators. When one of the workers complains about not knowing what's going on, AIVAS tells him there's no time to explain cryogenics or refrigeration engineering and to "[d]o as you are told." Which, I might add, is a rotten parenting strategy and teaches a child nothing other than that some adults have arbitrary power over you.

The cryo also makes it possible to store samples of all the different types of ovoids that make up Thread, which Sharra and company were surprised to learn existed.

Exercises with the microscopes (like tying knots using single strands of hair) give way to the need to create glass tools that will work in the very cold environment. AIVAS asked Morilton to create heavily leaded glass, so heavily leaded that Morilton protested. Caselon is trying to make tools out of the leaded glass, but they keep shattering until a set made with the very most lead content works.

> Caselon's set was much appreciated by others, though Mirrim thought them stubby inelegant implements. Consequently, when she, on her competitive mettle, made her set longer, she discovered that the flexibility of the length proved a disadvantage when the instruments were used.

So lengthening the glass doesn't help any of what you want to do with it. Also, of course it's Mirrim, because the narrative has locked in on her as the person to punish for attempting to get above her station, who finds the length is a disadvantage. Can't have the green dragonrider woman coming up with ideas.

After loading a sample into an analysis chamber and not getting the microscope to move in the desired direction, AIVAS suggests some silicone fluid as lube, which becomes a break for all involved, as the fluid will have to come from the planet.

We take a break for the narrative to extol the virtues of Jaxom as parent and husband - somehow he's able to be home more than Sharra is, and he listens to her while telling her to trust in AIVAS. We also find that the AI insists Jaxom and Ruth be present for all dragon EVA and in charge of any trips to the Red Star - one more is planned to document and record the picture needed to bring the rest of the dragons along. Which will consist of the Benden Weyrleaders, Jaxom, and the only other dragonrider that had traveled to the Red Star, along with Perschar to do the drawings needed. Oh, and Robinton, Fandarel, and Sebell, with D'ram and Tiroth providing transport. The entire leadership group, in other words. It's yet another Star Trek away mission. Yay.

So then we hop over to Sebell and Menolly, discussing the latest crop of rumors, and Sebell draws the misanthropic cynicism card, even as he understands the reason why.

> "We are altering the fabric of their lives. That frightens people. It always has; it always will. Lytol's sent me some fascinating excerpts from Aivas's historical data. Fascinating. People don't change, love. React first, think later, regret at leisure."  
>  He bent to kiss her cheek. "I've time to tell Robse and Olos a story before I go."  
>  Menolly snaked an arm around his neck before he could straighten. "You are such a loving man," she said, and then kissed him again deeply before releasing her hold.  
>  When he paused at the threshold to look back at her fondly, she was already bent to her composition. He smiled at the concentrated pose of her back, one shoulder angled up. She did love him, but he accepted the fact that he would have always two rivals--music and the Master. He had the same loves. With that thought, he went down the corridor to sing to his sons and to admire his daughter, Lemisa, who was too young for more than admiration.

Not so much, Masterharper, but your author doesn't have the benefit of the next several decades of brain research on babies that says music is helpful to good brain development and language acquisition, and that the more someone talks to babies, the better. But if she's around while Sebell is singing and talking to the other children, that will help her brain develop well all the same.

Also, it is a _shame_ that such a perfect setting for a poly triad is going nowhere. It's not like there isn't an entire sector of the society that _[allegedly]_ routinely engages in all sorts of sexual activities, and was possibly being praised for their willingness to sleep around, and it's not like the Crafthalls have to worry about succession rules or other such feudal things. It would be entirely okay to be squicked some by the [May-December Romance](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MayDecemberRomance) ideas between Menolly and Robinton (or Sebell and Robinton), but it definitely seems like this is a combination that could work. (Although Robinton, in an earlier book, pushed Menolly and Sebell at each other, so perhaps he wouldn't be okay with the arrangement, but at this point, I really wouldn't know if that was what Robinton really believed or whether that's the author's belief overriding the character's.

Also, look! A daughter! (There was a Moreta II, as was pointed out, but this might be the first daughter mentioned in a very long time.) And then we get another, as Sebell observes the room where he is going to meet with Larad and Asgenar. Bonna apparently provided a wall drawing of the Honshu mural. Larad, however, named his son Laradian, which is probably the closest we'll get to a Larad, Jr. 

Anyway, it turns out that rumors are the order of the day, but these are considered credible intelligence.

> After a glance at the message, Sebell shot out of the comfortable chair, seething with anger and swearing blackly. "'I have good reason to believe that Masterharper Robinton may be abducted to force those at Landing to destroy what they call the Abomination.'" Sebell was consumed with outrage. "Hazard the Masterharper! Ransom him for the destruction of Aivas!" Outrage gave way to panic.  
>  [The credentials of the information chain are discussed and vouched for...]  
>  "This has the ring of truth. Nothing Bitra initiates surprises me."  
>  "Then you also know that your Harpers at Bitra Hold have been put in quarantine for a virulent disease?"  
>  "The Bitran euphemism for 'reporting truth'?" Sebell asked.

This...might be the most competent plot I've seen to this point. Robinton is a high value target with a lot of public recognition, he's frail in body, and threatening to kill him could probably get more than a few people to do what you want.

It could also backfire horribly and get a significant population of the planet hunting for your heads and putting all of their resources, whether fire-lizards, soldiers, or dragons to do just that. Thella was able to evade one Lord's searches with only the occasional draconic assist, but if Hold, Weyr, and Craft are looking for you, and the traders are, too, you'd better take Robinton somewhere self-sufficient immediately and pray you don't have to venture outside until the fury dies down a bit. And that's before you have to deal with the time traveling dragons...

Returning to the plot, rescue plans are made for pulling out the Harpers, and Sebell drafts a message for Lytol to warn him of the plot while the trader that delivered the message from the person that heard it is escorted in and more rumors are discussed, like that Jaxom killed G'lanar deliberately, that the dragonriders plan on leaving the planet on the colony ships, or that they plan on throwing the shuttles at the Red Star, or that AIVAS has given Oldive a way to paralyze the living and then do organ transplants or other grafting work.

_[I am fairly certain the "Jaxom kninfed G'lanar" rumor is actually true, and what we were fed in the last chapter is the cover story. Or better, Sharra knifed G'lanar without hesitation and didn't feel any remorse for it, either, which would not be good for our Pernese overlords to have out in the wild as well.]_

Before heading on to Cove Hold, the narrative tries to pull a fast one on us, through Larad.

> "Not if they're putting Master Robinton at risk," Larad said, still horrified by that possibility. "He's never harmed anyone in his life. This world would rise up to the least child to protest such infamy."  
>  "Which, unfortunately, makes him the most useful hostage," Asgenar said with a sigh of regret.

That is probably only true in the most direct of senses - I don't believe we've ever seen Robinton personally hurt someone by his own hand. What he has orchestrated or left for others to do, though, has probably caused more than enough harm and death, and that's of what we know, like the torture of Meron. Robinton is not an innocent. Even if he's cultivated that image to perfection.

The discussion at Cove Hold about what to do has Robinton suggesting he let himself get captured and then call down the thunder of fire-lizards to attack the kidnappers. Lytol is determined that this time, all the conspirators are going to be caught and made to pay for their attempts. D'ram reminds us of who we're supposed to be rooting for:

> "It is terrible to think that there are people who oppose all the good that Aivas has done for us and would go to such great lengths to destroy him and those of us who have the vision to appreciate the potential."

...oh, boy. You know, I couldn't quite put my finger on why this narrative felt wrong, and why nobody was listening to what were valid concerns about the progress of technology and the disruption of the ways of life, but this helps a lot. It's a colonialist mindset driving the changes, not a concern for the people of Pern. The goal is laudable, or would be if it were shared more broadly, but the steering committee has appointed themselves as the superior people and the rest of the planet is simply along for the ride. The inferior people should be entirely grateful to their betters for all the technology brought to them and submit to their rule and the rule of the far-off AI of a distant land. For people interested more in equality, democracy, or autonomy, this is not really an acceptable form of government, and so the rebellion underway is following the path people take when confronted by an oppressive government.

That said, the control structures being imposed are the natural extensions of the feudal-Randian arrangement that is Pern - the select committee decides what is good for everyone, and then does it to everyone. They're the select committee because they have all the power themselves, thanks to the privileges accorded to them and the luck of having discovered the trove of knowledge and power first. Imagine what could have been had, say, Thella found it first.

_[Imagine what kind of conflict this would have been in the hands of a writer who chose to write something other than cartoonishly evil villains, and who gave depth and nuance and good justifications to the people who are fighting against the tide of their lives being so fundamentally changed. Sure, for some of them, it'll be "my privilege is disappearing, and I'm fighting to protect it!" but for others, it'll be "my livelihood is threatened, and the person who nominally is supposed to be looking after me has decided to double my rent instead. Since I'll have nothing in the new world, I'll do my best to stop it from coming into being." You know, maybe have a sympathetic antagonist or something, or a plot that resolves in compromise and understanding, instead of crushing your opponent underneath your heels.]_

After everyone, save maybe Lytol, is done not taking things quite as seriously as they should, the narrative returns to space, where the waldo gloves are lubed and ready to go. Except the third finger of the left hand. The dissections contribute more knowledge as each of the observing team talks about the structures and colors of everything inside, along with the possibility that there are parasites along for the ride. Because AIVAS wants Thread destroyed at the source, rather than just removing the vector of its transmission by shifting the Red Star.

After the interlude in the ship, we go back down, where Robinton tells off the Benden Weyrleaders for wanting to move him beyond the reach of the conspirators, but accepts additional discreet guards and a locator device that Fandarel builds from the AI's blueprints. And thus ends our chapter, with everyone on high alert for the slightest sign of a plot.


	17. Halfway-Competent Plotters

Last chapter, the major action was the discovery of a plot to kidnap Robinton and ransom him in exchange for the destruction of the AI, which is a damn sight better than "kill Jaxom and replace him with a puppet," certainly. The action continues...

**All the Weyrs of Pern: Chapter 17: Content Notes: Plotting xenocide, murder, poisoning, kidnapping**

...or rather, doesn't, as chapter 17 opens with the lack of attempts on the plot, even as most of the Crafts withdraw their masters from Bitra and Nerat Holds, although not from Keroon, as Lord Corman seems to be distancing himself from any possible plotters. The Weyrs keep a lock on the dragonriders, and the Harpers run down every whisper of a lead.

On board the Yokohama, _Mirrim_ discovers where Thread keeps its genetic material, and not too soon after, a viable pathway for a pathogen to infect and spread through the organism. There's a little wonder why the Ancients themselves didn't do all of this destructive revenge against Thread, but it passes mostly in smugness, because there's a thought that the AI might be having some feelings of its own.

> "Aivas hates Thread, inasmuch as an inanimate machine is capable of hatred. He hates what it did to his captains and Admiral Benden. He hates what it's done to us. He wants to be sure it can never menace us again. He wants to kill it in the Oort Cloud. He calls the project 'Overkill.'"  
>  Jaxom regarded her in puzzled astonishment. "He's more vindictive than F'lar!"

No, it's plotting contingencies, given that you have already demonstrated that dragons could potentially warp out to the Oort Cloud and back, given a sufficient oxygen supply. Then again, nobody said explicitly whether the AI had been programmed with a personality...

As it is, the overkill project essentially is to infest Thread with a malicious version of a parasite helper it already has, even though the work will likely leave Sharra too exhausted for the Gather.

_[This seems to be the most direct inspiration for when Todd will have the Third Pass crew engage in genetic manipulation of dragons so as to protect them against a pathogen. Different orientations, though, between the idea of killing them all from the AI and protecting dragons from getting killed.]_

Which makes it all the more interesting when AIVAS drops the bombshell on Jaxom that he's already done two of the three necessary explosions for altering the path of the Red Star, using Ruth as the leader of a time travel group that created the current chasm with the two previous explosions. Based on the records already scanned in, that talk about bright flashes on the Red Star at the ends of the Fourth and Eighth Passes. When Jaxom protests that something might go wrong, the AI points out that if that were true, Jaxom wouldn't be here talking now, and his group would similarly be missing from the timestream. Jaxom protests, but AIVAS tells him the only reason for the Long Intervals that it can determine is the detonation of engines in attempts to knock the Red Star out of orbit.

Jaxom changes tactics, telling AIVAS that no dragonrider would willingly time it 1800 Turns in the past, to which it tells him that nobody actually is going to know they're warping across time as well as space, since all they're doing is going to a picture. And they'll already have oxygen, so they won't notice the time lag for the temporal part of the journey. Jaxom doesn't want to risk Ruth, but Ruth is pretty confident that it can be done. Still, Jaxom resists until AIVAS lets slip the real reason why it has to go that way.

> "You already have, Lord Jaxom. You are the only one who could, can, would, has. Think this proposal over carefully and you will see that the project is not only within the capabilities of yourself and Ruth, but feasible. And essential! Three explosions at **this** point in time will not have the desired effect on the future path of the Red Star.

Ah-ha. There's not enough oomph in the engines to blow the planet out of orbit, and AIVAS knows it. So, instead, with a dragon that can pinpoint in time, the engines are to be used strategically to nudge the planet away. Beyond that, though, it turns out that Jaxom will also be seeding the wandering planet with the malicious parasites each time he visits with an engine, as well.

> "But if these mechanicals could be contaminated, infected with our disimproved parasite, they would carry it with them to destroy all similar life-forms in the Oort Cloud itself, probably including the more intelligent ones, too. Then, no matter what happens, Pern will forever be freed of this menace.  
>  [...AIVAS explains the Long Intervals...]  
>  "I'm also to be a disease carrier?" Jaxom was not sure which he felt more keenly: indignation, fury, or incredulity at the audacity of Aivas's scheme.

Worse, Jaxom: You're going to be the instrument of the xenocide of several intelligent species in the Oort Cloud. I'd like to believe that this fury and resistance is Jaxom's conscience ringing alarm bells at this plan, but it is most likely just his reluctance to risk Ruth and himself on a mission like this.

So Jaxom demands proof that the Plan works. AIVAS has him pull up the plan of the current orbit of the Red Star, then tells Jaxom to jump forward fifty Turns, gather the same printout, and make comparisons. Every self-preservation instinct Jaxom had says not to do it, but Ruth's confidence and his curiosity win out over the realization that time paradox is a definite risk. So Jaxom commits himself forward fifty Turns, grabs the printout, tries to tell the AI about his findings (and gets no reply. This seems significant, although I don't know how) and hops back to admit defeat, as the new path clearly shows the wanderer in a decaying orbit around the fifth planet of the system. Having been snared into following through with the True Plan, Jaxom heads back to eat, sleep, and then enjoy the Gather that's underway when he wakes up.

_[And yet again, we have a time travel plot where all of the contingencies just get sealed up and there's no room for anyone to try something that might disrupt the timestream. Which usually means there's a bootstrap paradox somewhere that has to be figured out, but it never is. We're always on the timeline where a thing that has happened in the past has always happened in the past, rather than the one where someone has to figure it out and then do the thing that gets them started. The closest we got to a proper time loop was the queen egg return, and even then, the fire-lizards prompt Jaxom to do it, instead of him coming up with the idea alongside Ruth, and then only finding out at the end that Ruth and the fire-lizards remember that it happened.]_

Jaxom and the protagonists have a good time at the Gather. So much so, that even though they are reminded of the plot by the conspicuous absence of the plotters, nobody notices that Robinton's been switched for a dead man and his fire lizard poisoned until well after the switch is done. Fellis in the food and wine, served by one of the new drudges hired for the party, because of course you need extra staff to handle it, and who pays attention to drudges, anyway, and the kidnap plot succeeds.

It really shouldn't, considering Lessa disguised herself as a drudge for a decade to beat Fax's notice, and Piemur did the same for a shorter time to sneak in and gather intelligence on people shipping goods South. Why is anyone not on a trusted list getting anything to Robinton, knowing that there's still a plot against him?

_[I realize that venue security is a really difficult thing, especially for someone who wants to go out and be seen and mingle among people and otherwise make it seem like he either doesn't know, or he knows and he doesn't care. But there really should be at least some form of security around that has their eyes on Robinton the entire time and doesn't make any assumptions at all about his status. Whichever Hold was hosting the Gather, perhaps. So, yeah, Jaxom, why didn't you provide some goons for Robintion? (It would be the work of an author for the guards to have been bribed or threatened and the plot happen exactly as it does anyway, but at least we're not scratching our heads wondering how this happened in the first place when theroretically, a lot of people want to keep Robinton very safe.)]_

That said, props to the kidnappers for choosing the right venue and method most likely to succeed at the task, assuming you could get everyone distracted long enough to make the switch.

Suffice to say, once noticed, care is summoned for Zair and all the dragonriders and fire-lizards, save Jaxom, fan out to try and find where Robinton is being held (and naturally, Ruatha is beyond the maximum range of the locator device provided to Robinton.) No luck through the night, and searches are imposed on any and all travelers that intend to leave the Gather.

As you might guess, though, with as many fire lizards dispatched on the finding mission, it isn't long before one notices a cart and wagon staying very far off the roads and trails and determines Robinton is inside, which essentially summons the air force to stop the wagon, which is searched, its secret compartment discovered and opened, and Robinton recovered and sprinted back for medical care after Sharra's field assessment says he needs better hands than hers.

The chapter ends with the Healers trying to heal Robinton with the hope that he will survive it. Which is good for dramatic tension purposes, so we'll leave off here and pick it back up next week.


	18. Throwing The Book

Last time, AIVAS unveiled the True Plot to defeat Thread - use the starship engines at specific points in the past to move the orbit of the Red Star in such a way that the final explosion will do the rest of the job, and seed the planetoid with a parasite that will kill the entities of the Oort Cloud that use that symbiont in their own lives. Jaxom is given the charge to do it, because he has already done it, and also receives proof that it works by jumping into the future. Xenocide is on the table as a consequence of defeating Thread permanently, and nobody seems inclined to give a reason why it shouldn't happen just like that.

The second half of the chapter involved the execution of the plan to kidnap Robinton, which works without a hitch, but is foiled on the getaway when the kidnappers are spotted by a fire lizard and hell comes in its wake. We pick up in the aftermath...

**All the Weyrs of Pern: Chapter 18: Content Notes: Murderous Intent, Mob Mentality, "Enhanced Interrogation"**

...where Robinton seems to be willing to forgive, now that Zair is fine, but he's shouted down immediately by everyone else, with special sessions called of both the Lords and the Mastercrafters to sit trial of the persons involved. Lytol is scrambling to find precedent of a joint session, while Robinton continues to believe that it's a failing of the Harper teachings, somehow, that brought on this plot and rebellion. Menolly kills that line of inquiry in fury before it gets anywhere and throws everyone else out so that Robinton can rest.

Of course, Robinton is right, and probably on the way that he is thinking - it is definitely a clear failure of propaganda that people plotted against the designated leaders of Pern and an even greater failure that they acted and succeeded at it. So there is clearly something wrong with the Harper teaching, in that it wasn't robust enough to handle the rapid reintroduction of technology to the society that has built itself up to require large amounts of people in very stratified social roles.

Robinton's cause isn't being helped, either, by the generally extrajudicial attitude being taken by his supporters toward the plotters.

> The riders had been forced to protect the nine men from being torn to pieces by the incensed crowd. Jaxom had them interned separately in some of the small, dark inner rooms of the Hold, supplying them with only water and dim glowbaskets. The little drudge who had served the Harper the drugged food was found, and although she was plainly of limited understanding, she was also placed in confinement.  
>  The ship's captain, it turned out, was one of Sigomal's sons, which strongly suggested the Bitran Holder's involvement. It was remarkable, N'ton commented, how willing a man became to talk after he had been dangled awhile in midair from a dragon's forearm.  
>  When a wing of Benden dragonriders had appeared at Bitra Hold, Sigomal loudly and indignantly denied any involvement in such a dreadful, contemptible business; he had bitterly denounced a son who would bring so much dishonor to his sire and his Hold.  
>  F'lar admitted later that he had come very close to smashing Sigomal's lying mouth--only Mnementh had saved the man. The big bronze dragon had been so incensed by his rider's anger that a little curl of flame had escaped his lips, which had had the immediate effect of silencing Sigomal.

And beyond that, it appears that several of Norist's smiths are implicated, and there is the name of the workman who built the wagon itself on it.

I realize that Pern has never been a democracy, and at its most egalitarian, it's an oligarchy at best, but there's a lot going on here that's going to seem like arbitrary justice, especially for testimony obtained while someone's life was threatened.

_[The fact that a kangaroo court proceeds at all is the biggest flag we have that Pern justice and Terran justice do not at all work in the same ways, despite the superficial resemblances that the trial will have. We've already had witness intimidation by dragonriders, which would, in any sensible system with an independent court, immediately cause either a mistrial or a significant amount of objections with regard to the fruit of a poisoned tree. Not to mention that it's pretty immediately clear that "a jury of his peers" is going to be nigh-on impossible, nor would any requirements that defendants get a trained legist as their defense be fulfilled, because there aren't any volunteers for the job and nobody can be appointed for the requirement._

_We'll see more of how justice proceeds when we get to Halla's trial in the Todd books, but also there will be a bit or two in Masterharper that will help our understanding of how like and unlike Terran justice this is. It's just enough to lull a reader into the belief that they're identical, but they really, really aren't.]_

As it is, the trial proceeds on two counts - kidnapping and murder. The drudge that was the instrument of the poisoning is exonerated by reason of not knowing what she was doing, but just following orders to give specific food and drink to Robinton and his fire lizard. Since she was innocent, she also didn't trip any hostile intent markers, either, so neither dragon nor did lizard knew anything was up. Thus, the Three-Laws Compliant way of poisoning someone with robots discussed in some of the early Asimov books and stories works just as well with drudges. Lessa is unhappy at the use of someone disabled in such a manner, and Sharra will keep her on as kitchen staff, since she's apparently very good with the spit animals.

This seems to be a trend, actually, that the mentally disabled or neurodivergent end up in the kitchens, since Camo was the same. They all apparently are quite good at it.

Lytol looked for someone to speak and represent the defendants at their trial, normally a function of a Harper, but since there's a massive conflict of interest in getting a Harper to do it, and nobody else is willing to do it, the accused have to defend themselves. Jaxom starts with the confessions of the men hired to kidnap Robinton, who implicate Lords Sigomal and Begamon as financiers and suppliers for the kidnappings and the attacks and sabotage earlier. Glassmasters and journeymen are also implicated as couriers and purchasers, all working under the direction of Norist.

During the trial, Sigomal protests his innocence, only to have his son testify firmly that he's a leader of the plot, to which Sigomal punches him in the face to shut him up.

The wagon kidnappers explain that Sigomal hired them, but that they didn't intend to kill anyone, only that their conspirator had to drink some of the poisoned wine to make it seem authentic. The ship kidnappers say that Begamon offered an island off his coast to harbor them until the ransom was done. Nobody in either crew is part of the Fishercraft, to Idarolan's relief.

Norist has no regrets, and regrettably, because he's a villain, the parts that he says that make sense are going to be lost.

> "I did what my conscience dictated, to rid this world of that Abomination and all its evil works. It encourages sloth and dalliance among our young, distracting them from their traditional duties. I see it destroying the very structure of our Halls and our Holds. Contaminating our Pern with vicious complexities that deprive honest men of work and their pride in workmanship, turning whole families away from what has been proved good and wholesome for twenty-five hundred Turns. I would do it again. I will do all in my power to destroy the spell this Abomination has placed on you!" He extended his arm and swept his pointing finger at every one of the Masters who sat in judgment on him. "You have been deluded. You will suffer. And all Pern will suffer because of your blindness, your lapse from purity of our culture and knowledge."  
>  Two of his Masters and five of his journeymen cheered their master.

For all the bluster about purity (which might have a common antecedent with the Harper insistence on language purity), Norist's main point is something worth considering - the introduction of mechanization does mean more idle bodies that may or may not be locked into learning the trade of their parents, and that could cause significant social problems if new work doesn't spring up to put them in professions. Not to mention that once the threat of Thread is gone, that means there will be a lot more idle people with flame-throwing creatures. Pern has presumably had many Turns to parse out what the possible ramifications can be, and has hopefully already started making provisions for putting all of those characters to work. They haven't done a thing about it, because Pern, but they at least had the opportunity. _[Several, actually, as there have been Intervals and two Long Intervals where there was the distinct possibility that the dragonriders might no longer be needed for their Thread skills. The plan of what you do when the dragonriders are finally going to be idle should have precedents and ideas already in place, based on how things went either well or poorly in the last Interval / Long Interval and what would be better to do in the meantime.]_

As an aside, I don't think the concept of magic made it to Pern, not like that, but it's also entirely possible that the concept re-developed over the lost period. I don't know that the word spell would have made it, but at this point, it's more of an annoyance that words that don't really have a demonstrated need to be there still keep showing up. _[The comments expanded upon this idea, and I suggested there might be a pathway for such a thing as the Evil Eye to have succeeded, based on the likelihood of getting mind-whammied by someone, and so a word like "fascination" or "charm" might have survived appropriately, but "spell" probably should not have, as we haven't seen any form of ritual religious practice on Pern.]_

In any case, as the last piece of evidence before deliberations, Oldive testifies that the death of Biswy, the Robinton impersonator, was likely due to ingesting too much fellis by his own hand, and the subsequent heart failure that resulted. Jaxom drops the murder charges in light of the evidence, and the Lords and Craftmasters begin deliberations. _[Which would be very different in many of the jurisdictions I know of – if someone died in the commission of a criminal act or conspiracy, then I expect the survivors to be charged with a crime in relation to that death, even if it's a lesser charge than murder.]_ After Robinton addresses the audience and attempts to convince everyone that the technology brought forth is nothing more than what the ancestors intended for the planet, and that the attempt to sever the link to the past provided by the AI is the great folly of Norist's viewpoint. And then:

> Master Robinton looked at the three abductors. "I forgive you for myself; but you took marks to do evil, which is a great wrong. And you tried to silence a Harper, and that is a greater wrong, for when speech is restricted, all men suffer, not just I."

Nothing beats an opportunity for a little propaganda. Also, since when is free speech a Pernese value? Unless he means it solely for the Harpers, or maybe for the Lords, riders, and Crafters. A lot of this book has been about suppressing speech, and more than a few instances of the past, including the Renegades book, has been about preventing speech or putting someone in an impossible position over that speech.

As things are, the Lords and Craftmasters don't take much time to deliver their verdict. Sigomal and Begamon are stripped of their Holds and sentenced to exile for their kidnapping... as the second part of the reasoning. The first is "to plot and carry out a punitive action in another Hold or common property, which is the designation of Landing". It seems more important for them to be punished because they took action in another Lord's sovereign territory than for actually kidnapping and planning on extorting a ransom for their hostage.

Gomalsi, Sigomal's son, is also sent to exile for his acts, and for the crime of "setting himself up as a captain of a seagoing ship without qualifications," which "offended all members of the Fishercrafthalls." Norist is stripped of rank and exiled, as are all other Glass-smiths involved. All the others who are neither Lord nor Crafter are also sent into exile by Jaxom, as he apparently has the power to decide (as the Lord of the territory on which the offense happened, I guess). In a bit of mercy, Jaxom says their families can accompany, should they desire to do so.

_[I am still struck by the charges that are presented here, which sound an awful lot like making sure you have someone on tax evasion if you can't manage to get them for murder. But, the priorities here seem to be infringing on another Lord's sovreignty and misrepresenting yourself as a Guild member, and taking payment to do evil, rather than, I dunno, kidnapping someone with the intent to hold them for ransom, causing the death of one of your own conspirators, those kinds of things. The offenses against the person are subordinated to the offenses against the group. Which would actually be rather fascinating to compare to the Charter and to how justice normally works on Pern. But, of course, we lack other instances of this, and will continue to do so for a while. It doesn't seem all that hard for someone to have, say, done a little research into how the courts of the early modern era worked, how feudal lords and their appointed bailiffs and reeves administered justice, and worked that in, but no, we get this very weird mix of authoritarian justice and material that wouldn't be out of place in the Magna Carta.]_

That closes the court, and the rest of the chapter is lots of people, and Ruth, too, reassuring Jaxom that he did excellently in administering the court and fairly in his choice of punishment, and the actual act itself of exile. The last part is a lead up into the fact that there are only a few days left before the Plan happens, where Jaxom will have to get two separate groups of dragonriders to drop engines and parasites at their appointed places and times. It sounds like it's going to be a logistical nightmare.


	19. The Plan Succeeds (As It Was Always Going To)

Last chapter, the plot to get Robinton wrapped up with the trial and exile of everyone involved, Lord, Crafter, and serf alike. There's only one thing left to do in this book... 

**All the Weyrs of Pern: Chapters 19 and 20: Content Notes: Suicide**

...but it's going to take two chapters, naturally. The first starts with Fandarel complaining a bit about the waste of the engines and a bit of skepticism about the considerable destructive power of antimatter, as he and a crew of Smiths attach the apparatuses that will corrode the containment units for the antimatter. Then to Hamian, the Benden Weyrleader, and Jaxom, who are all trying to make sure there are enough suits for the lift operations. Jaxom knows there's an upper limit of suits, but the others do not. Then up to the Yokohama, where everyone is working uptempo to try and find the perfect vector for Thread destruction. They don't know about the full effect of their weapon, though, and Mirrim remarks that she's up to batch 98 of trials for the day, so it's probable there isn't brainpower to spare to work it out.

> Afterward, when Lytol wrote up the history of the Aivas years, he would remember the results, not the frenzy that had accompanied them, though he gave full credit to everyone involved in the different projects.  
>  At last all the preparations had been completed--two full days **before** the date Aivas had set them.

Ooh, foreshadowing.

As it turns out, they need the extra time because the couplings that would release the engines are stuck and need to be lubricated, and it takes time to manufacture a proper delivery system to get everything in working order again. This allows for some recovery time for Sharra, who had "lost weight and had deep circles under her eyes" from the extended and stressful schedule. Robinton is, in Jaxom's estimation, "a man going through the motions of living," and this distresses him.

Once everything is lubricated, separation of the engines occurs without a hitch. In the meantime, Lessa has been replaced as a leader by N'ton, because Ramoth is pregnant (and Jaxom has exactly zero interest in asking the Benden Weyrleader how he managed _that_ one). This puts a slight wrench in Jaxom's plans. 

Jaxom has no troubles getting the first set of dragons back in time, and then scattering them back to their own Weyrs in the present so their space suits can be collected. (And without Mirrim bringing back a sample of ancient Thread by accident.) The Benden Weyrleader comes back and crows about his success in dropping his engine into place. And there is a drink of good Benden wine, to which Jaxom is offered a drink, confirming (in his own mind) that he's finally being treated as an adult, instead of the kid Lord and dragonrider.

As it turns out, the re-matching and cleaning of the space suits happens so poorly that it takes enough time that N'ton has to take a new set of pictures from Jaxom to do his warp, solving neatly the problem of how to put one over on the otherwise very experienced Weyrleader. The final engine drop succeeds without issues, and everyone is eventually returned to their Weyrs and their times, even though some appeared temporarily at the right place and the wrong time.

Then there's dealing with the politics of the matter. More specifically:

> "Somehow--" Brand paused to frame his explanation. "A lot of people thought that there'd be no more Thread **now**. That once the dragonriders has done this explosion thing, Thread wouldn't fall again."  
>  "Oh!" Jaxom made a face. "Bloody shards, Brand. Don't they ever listen? Harpers have been explaining for the last four Turns that we can't stem **this** Fall, but there won't be any more!"

And, of course, any misfortune that befalls people during this period is also the AI's fault. Jaxom decides to send word along so that the Harpers and Cove Hold are aware of the misunderstanding, and then he and Sharra settle back into Hold life, deciding not to go up on the bridge and watch the explosion of the engine, which is an anticlimax for the observers...and the narrative. Robinton, however, knows exactly how to put his journeyman to work.

> "You," Robinton said, pointing a stern finger at the journeyman, "will now have the unenviable task as a harper of explaining the true facts of the achievement to those who didn't understand that this effort would not alter the path of Thread during the remainder of this Pass."  
>  To Lytol's surprise, Robinton had not been at all dismayed by Jaxom's report. In fact, the Harper has seemed to expect such disgruntlements.  
>  "Menolly's already composed one ballad," Robinton went on, "with a chorus to hammer home the point that this is the Last Pass for Thread, that Pern will be forever free from the end of this Pass."

I think I see wisdom poking through there, Robinton, about the actual power of your propaganda machine and the necessity of always repeating your message.

Also, I'm surprised Piemur hasn't been field promoted at this point to a Mastery, given how much work he's already done. Perhaps Sebell sees him as more valuable as an itinerant journeyman than a Master with an established base?

Now that the time paradox is resolved, AIVAS has a final task for this situation, one he thinks best suited for the browns, blues, and greens, who were mostly excluded from the engine lifts.

> "Readings on the orbits of the two smaller ships have shown a marked increase in the frequency of adjustments. The adjustments take more and more power, and the prognosis is that their orbits are likely to decay over the next decades to the critical point.  
>  [...the Yokohama is fine, of course, but the others should be moved into the sun...]  
>  "Burned up?" Lytol asked.  
>  "A heroic end for such valiant ships," Robinton murmured.  
>  "You mentioned nothing of this before," F'lar said.  
>  "There were more urgent priorities," Aivas replied.

Well, there's the answer to _the question Fandarel asked several chapters ago_ and was dismissed from inquiring further about. So, yeah, someone remembered they had colony ships to deal with. They even acknowledge the destructive potential of even pieces of the ships touching down on the planet instead of burning up.

That said, apparently the Yokohama has backup engines, and so do the others, because their antimatter components were all just stripped and detonated. So this is likely more than just a sinecure for the other colors, but the most efficient way of getting the ships to the star for final destruction.

_[It's only the two smaller ships, though, that get this treatment. The Yokohama stays in place, because it has to, so that Jaxom and Ruth can appear on it in fifty years' time to check and see that the plan of disturbing the wanderer does, indeed, succeed, and therefore Jaxom and Ruth agree to do what they've already done, having seen that it will definitely work. No, time travel stories aren't confusing at all, why do you ask?]_

With the matter settled, all that's left is to wind down the narrative. Jaxom will still fly for the remainder of the Pass, but apparently his time will be taken up by organizing and patching the holes in his Hold's records. 

Robinton pays a visit to AIVAS, who wants to know why he hasn't seen Oldive about the fact that he's also been suffering from fellis poisoning since the incident. Robinton waves him off, saying that there's "no cures for worn-out human parts", but expressing his pleasure that the classes are continuing.

> "The priorities for this facility have now been met."  
>  "That's true enough," Robinton said, smiling.  
>  "This facility now has no further function."  
>  "Don't be ridiculous Aivas," Robinton said somewhat sharply. "You've just gotten your students to the point where they know enough to argue with you!"  
>  "And to resent the superiority of this facility. No, Master Robinton, the task is done. Now it is wise to let them seek their own way forward. They have the intelligence and a great spirit. Their ancestors can rightfully be proud of them."  
>  "Are you?"  
>  "They have worked hard and well. That is in itself a reward and an end."  
>  "You know, I believe you're right."

That is not an answer, AIVAS. Based on that resentment comment above, I might say your answer is no. You might be proud of their accomplishments, but it definitely sounds like you're not sure the Pernese are ready for their next steps.

> "'To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven,' Master Robinton."  
>  "That is poetic, Aivas."  
>  There was one of those pauses that Robinton always thought was the Aivas equivalent of a smile.  
>  "From the greatest book ever written by Mankind, Master Robinton. You may find the entire quotation in the files. The time has been accomplished. This system is going down. Farewell, Masterharper of Pern. Amen."  
>  Robinton sat straight up in his chair, fingers on the pressure plates, though he hadn't a single positive idea of how he could avert what Aivas was about to do. He half turned to the hall, to call for help, but no one who had the knowledge--Jaxom, Piemur, Jancis, Fandarel, D'ram or Lytol--was near enough at hand.  
>  The screen that had paraded so much knowledge and issued so many commands and diagrams and plans was suddenly blank, lifeless. In the right-hand corner, a single line blinked.  
>  "'And a time to every purpose under heaven,'" Robinton murmured, his throat almost too tight for him to speak. He felt incredibly tired, overwhelmingly sleepy. "Yes, how very true. How splendidly true. And what a wonderful time it has been!"  
>  Unable to resist the lethargy that spread from his extremities, he laid his head down on the inactive pressure plate, one hand holding Zair in the curve of his neck, and closed his eyes, his long season over, his purpose, too, accomplished.

And thus, both Robinton and Zair breathe their last, having been the perfect witnesses to AIVAS's final act, and unable to stop it from doing so. If fire-lizards can guide to the place beyond between, then Robinton probably is there, drinking wine and singing songs. For as much as he was responsible for in life (and I suspect we'll get to a fuller accounting in the book that's all about him), someone would probably say he received his wounds from the front, as was questioned in the Scottish Play.

AIVAS, on the other hand, could probably be accused of having taken the coward's way out - it had accomplished the purpose of the destruction of Thread, but now that it might have to face a world where even its prized students would gainsay it, or put its knowledge to uses other that its own, it chooses to self-terminate rather than gave the consequences of its actions. There's still a world in upheaval out there, and just because the most prominent Lords arrayed against the AI are exiled doesn't mean they're the only ones who have that idea.

AIVAS has put all of its students in a much more precarious position in convincing the rest of the world to go along with technological achievements.

Oh, and eventually the Yokohama is going to need to be moved, as well. Will Pern forget about that until it is too late?

Not to mention that I take significant umbrage at the idea that spanning all the worlds and all of the time that's gone on since humans left Terra, that people believe the writings of an Abrahamic religion are still the best book they've created.

No. Unless there's evidence that the people who programmed the AI held those beliefs, there's no reason for an AI with a functioning history module to believe that a book that is the justification for so much lost life, inflicted pain, suffering, and war is the very best book humans have created in all of that time.

No. That assertion is not a logical conclusion.

_[That assertion is even less logical in the face of Pern's supposed a-religiosity and the way that they were all being exhorted to think of themselves as a new entity, rather than a combination of all the old things and baggage they brought with them. And, actually, now that I think about it, there wasn't a single character named in the colonists who was explicitly Christian. There may be some assumptions, possibly in the Hanrahans, but they are vets, not programmers. There's absolutely no Watsonian reason for AIVAS to choose to quote that particular thing as its last and call it one of the finest books ever written. (Unless it's very specifically referring to Ecclesiastes alone and no other.) Given the clear history of the wars and death and destruction that Terrans know about all over that book and who gets to have legitimate interpretations of it, there shouldn't be anyone praising it as the finest work. There's far too much blood associated with it, which AIVAS would have stored in the databanks._

_What's aggravating, though, is that as a piece of storytelling, it actually works very well for AIVAS to have its last words, then for Robinton to finish the quote and expire himself. It's just that there are so many other things that could do this as well. The author's preferences are coming through. Or, perhaps, the preferences of the person who Robinton is based on are coming through, and while it works as a storytelling device, it ultimately undercuts the book. At least in my opinion.]_

Getting back to the plot, the death of Robinton trips the telepathic telegraph, with everyone racing to Landing (Jaxom and Sharra collect Oldive first) to witness what happened. Asking AIVAS for an explanation yields the other problem, and none of Jaxom's attempts to restore the AI automatically are successful. Jaxom wants to go back to an appropriate time and save Robinton, but everyone else is firmly against this idea, and also against trying to revive the AI. D'ram plays spokesperson for this thought.

> "He has served his purpose in helping us destroy Thread. You will come to realize just how wise Aivas was in this. We were beginning to count on him too heavily."

_[There's a cocowhat right there.]_

_You still are counting on it_ , every time you access the data stored in the machines that you teach with, that you research with, that you work with. The only thing you can't count on any more is the interactive mode that the voice system provided and its calculations and advice. Which, frankly, terrifies me, because now Pern has the approximate tech level of 20th c. Terra, with knowledge in the databases, presumably, about the atom, antimatter, and with the experience of engineering a lethal plague to another life form. If the Great Filter exists, Pern is probably rubbing right up against it. The Union of Concerned Pernese Scientists are setting the clock very close to midnight at this point. If AIVAS were still here, it might take on a Hari Seldon role and try to steer the planet through what are going to be some very tough decisions and scenarios, but no, it decided that once the people on the planet became collectively teenagers in their development, that it was time to check out permanently. Asshole AI.

The rest of the chapter, and the book, is the burial of Robinton, and Ruth getting Jaxom to give up on his bitterness at being bereft of his mentor, teacher, and an entity that treated Jaxom as important and an adult in the company of his peers. Ruth points out that the knowledge is still there, and that none of what has been accomplished would have been done without them. So, instead of with a birth of a child, the book ends with the birth of a planet, with Jaxom and Ruth going back to Cove Hold, "ready to delve into the legacy of knowledge that Aivas left for them."

Good luck, Jaxom. May you make better decisions with your power than the societies before you.

_[Seriously, AIVAS checking out at this point in time is the worst decision it can make. It's beaten Thread, great. It leaves behind a world that is in the middle of an industrial revolution, one that it brought into existence, and that hasn't yet fully decided that they're going to go forward with this idea, instead of becoming violently reactionary to it. If someone wants to reboot AIVAS in the future, they're going to first have to try and preserve it from the faction that will want to dismantle it in its entirety in the most destructive way possible. AIVAS deciding to peace it at this point is essentially getting away before all the consequences can be laid firmly in its lap. It might have been right about everyone starting to resent it and turn away from the path it set before them. What it could instead turn its wisdom to is figuring out how to make the pains of rapidly-accelerated technological improvement as small as possible for the most people. Or in teaching people who want to get off this rock, now that it will be safe to do so, how to get up to the Yokohama, how to set it so that the AI can transfer itself up to the computers there when Pern seems reasonably stable, and the people who want to leave can go exploring._

_One of the comments suggested that the AI hadn't actually killed itself, but instead shuttled itself up to the Yokohama to wait out whatever happens down on the planet and do whatever else it was planning on doing with the rest of its existence, free of the pesky humans that want to do terrible things to it. It's a good thought, and seems more in line with AIVAS. It retreats somewhere that can't easily be found, continues to monitor the situation, and, perhaps at some point in the future, re-descends when Pern is ready to reconnect and has the requisite wisdom to be taught how to cross the vast distance of space with their own hyperdrives. Which, thankfully, is a story that will not be covered.]_

This would be the logical point of the end of the Dragonriders of Pern. The Great Menace is defeated, the torch is passed to the next generation, the mood is theoretically optimistic toward the new knowledge to be learned and the technology to be applied, and the narrative is handing it all to us in a bow.

*checks how many books are yet to come*

Wait, _seriously_?

Then again, it's not like we don't have several previous Passes that could be mined for more adventures and stories.

All right, then. Join us next time, when someone finally gets around to the fact that humans and dragons aren't the only intelligent and communicative species on Pern. It's time to go swimming with The Dolphins of Pern.


End file.
